In a brand new Twitter thread, blockchain detective Zachxbt has revealed the identities of 4 individuals allegedly related to numerous Non-fungible token (NFT) rug pulls.
$2.8M constituted of scams
Within the thread on April 27, he alleged that the 4 individuals are from Croatia and had rugged 9 totally different NFT tasks, making at the very least $2.8 million.
1/ Nicely all too usually NFT scammers resolve to stay round on Twitter and this group sadly is not any totally different.
4 individuals from Croatia have rugged 9 totally different tasks since September 2021 & have stolen at the very least $2.8m all collectively.
Let’s dive in. pic.twitter.com/TTihrIw3gd
— zachxbt (@zachxbt) April 27, 2022
The NFT tasks embody DAOTurtles, Saconi Holmovimiento, Pixel Cat Gang, Baller Headz, Bored Ape Tattoo Store, Trippy Ape, Acid Ape Sweet, Excessive Membership, and Drippy Jesus. In line with him, eight of those tasks not have energetic web sites, and their Twitter pages have been deleted.
By means of their ENS addresses, Zachxbt was in a position to establish these masterminds. He said that the three ENS addresses, lexii.eth, keelito.eth, and mvpnft.eth, interacted probably the most with NFT tasks.
It was doable to see this by a graphic visualization of the proceeds from these NFT tasks. The visualization reveals that many of the funds ended up in 5 accounts on Binance.
A easy Twitter search revealed that two of them are on Twitter; Lexiieth has lately deactivated his account, whereas keelito.eth has modified his username to hedgefundnft.
Nonetheless, the individual behind keelito.eth is attempting to erase their affiliation with the identify. They even went so far as burning the identify. He has now deleted his Twitter account as properly.
However that wasn’t sufficient to cease Zachxbt from uncovering their actual identification. In line with him, he was ready to make use of data from an nameless supply and Discord to unmask the 4 Croatians aged between 20 and 23.
Their actual names are allegedly Janko Pribicevic, Fran Kosutic, Martin Vucemil Prelovsek, and Andrija Putanec. All of them are on Instagram, the place they comply with each other.
7/ Nicely who’re they?
Nicely utilizing data from discord & an anon pal I used to be in a position to hyperlink it to those 4 people from Croatia ages 20-23.
Janko Pribicevic
Fran Kosutic
Martin Vucemil Prelovsek (keep in mind mvp.eth)
Andrija PutanecAll of them comply with one another on Instagram pic.twitter.com/1FcS4SmFFC
— zachxbt (@zachxbt) April 27, 2022
Blockchain transactions go away footprints
This revelation is one other instance of dangerous actors within the NFT scene who’re scamming 1000’s of individuals with tasks that haven’t any potential. This yr alone, hundreds of thousands have been misplaced to NFT rug pulls.
One mistake all these scammers make is that they fail to know they’re not actually nameless on the blockchain. By means of their pockets addresses and on-line actions, Zachxbt has been in a position to establish a number of of them.
Nonetheless, the absence of a transparent regulatory framework makes it troublesome to convey these scammers to justice. There have been some optimistic developments lately with the U.S. Division of Justice arresting and prosecuting the masterminds behind the Frosties NFT rug pull. In the meantime, New York is contemplating legal guidelines that can make rug pulls a felony offense.
