FBI Recovers An $141,000 Audemars Piquet Watch, NFTs, From Scammer
04 Febbraio 2023 - 07:20PM
NEWSBTC
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
has seized, among other non-fungible tokens (NFTs), that
includes a Bored Ape Yacht Club#9658, an Audemars Piquet (AP) Royal
Oak Watch whose retail price is $141,000, from a phishing scammer,
Chase Senecal. The FBI Haul Includes an Audemars Piquet Watch Worth
$141,000 The investigative agency now possesses over $100,000 worth
of NFTs, that is, the Bored Ape Yacht Club#9658 and Doodle #3114.
This excludes the watch. It is a positive step towards bringing to
book scammers and hackers who have been wreaking havoc in the
crypto scene. Related Reading: Institutional Crypto Predictions For
2023: Ethereum, BTC, L2s, NFTs The response from the FBI follows an
independent investigation by a Twitter sleuth back in September
2022. 2/ HZ was responsible for using a Twitter panel to take over
accounts like @Zeneca @nounsdao @ezu_xyz @deekaymotion @JRNYclub as
well as Discord server attacks @AnataNFT @Lacoste The thread which
started it all I’ve attached below. https://t.co/6dsfZ5jnGl
pic.twitter.com/8EYl1yuIik — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 3, 2023
It only took several weeks for them to recover several of
those assets, including the two BAYC. BAYC are NFTs on Ethereum.
According to details, forfeited assets were filed in the District
of Maine and seized in Brunswick on October 24, 2022. There are no
official charges pressed against Chase at this point. However,
because the FBI has taken over assets, which they have evidence are
proceeds of crime, there could be a strong case for the
scammer. The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) says
federal asset forfeiture “is a critical legal tool that serves a
number of compelling law enforcement purposes”. Before authorities
proceed, there should be a “criminal conviction.” If there is
forfeiture, then it “is limited to the property interests of the
defendant, including any proceeds earned by the defendant’s illegal
activity”. Chase Senecal, who goes by the name Horror (HZ), has
allegedly successfully masterminded several phishing attacks. In
the processes he scammed unsuspecting artists, holders, and
others. The NFTs Investigation In December 2021, the
independent Twitter sleuth, ZachXBT, observed that through a series
of phishing campaigns and hacks targeting over 600 Discord Servers
and more than 10 NFT-related Twitter accounts, HZ had managed to
siphon millions of dollars. Among Twitter accounts affected include
those of Zeneca and Beeple. Prominent Discord servers
attacked included that of Lacoste. Related Reading: Hedera: Is 2023
The Comeback Year For HBAR NFTs? As of August 2022, 1,355 ETH,
excluding assets cashed out, had been mapped out and linked to the
hacker. 1/ With all of the NFT Discord hacks over the past few
months I thought it would be beneficial to map out one of the
groups doing them Currently $3.9m (1355 ETH) sits in their main
wallets which are highlighted below This number doesn’t include
what has already been cashed out pic.twitter.com/4kECBTuNCq —
ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 25, 2022 The AP watch was a crucial part
of ZachXBT’s investigation. After HZ bragged about the watch on
social media, he asked a few friends about the seller. Eventually,
it was revealed that Chase had purchased the watch using USDC.
Fortunately for the investigator, the USDC
address associated with the payment was funded by several
addresses used to scam people on Twitter. Feature image from Canva,
Chart from TradingView
Grafico Azioni Ethereum (COIN:ETHUSD)
Storico
Da Nov 2023 a Dic 2023
Grafico Azioni Ethereum (COIN:ETHUSD)
Storico
Da Dic 2022 a Dic 2023