- Five individuals involved in the Bored Ape Yacht Club Scam prosecuted in Paris.
- The Paris police believe the major figures in the swindle were Mathys and Camille.
- The scam was uncovered with the help of findings by crypto on-chain analyst ZachXBT.
Months after the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection phishing fraud was uncovered by well-known crypto investigator ZachXBT, five individuals related to the scam were indicted in Paris on Wednesday.
The five individuals are suspected of forming a network that falsely offered a service that would turn any user’s BAYC non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into an animated version of it. In order to give the appearance of legitimacy, the individuals provided their services via BAYC’s official Discord channel.
The same source claims that French authorities believe the gang acquired the NFTs, including some of the most expensive Bored Apes, somewhere between 2021 and 2022.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said that it opened an investigation into these NFT thefts on August 23. The investigation was given to the Central Office for the Fight against Crime Related to Information and Communication Technologies (OCLCTIC).
The phishing scheme relied on victims clicking on a link to generate the promised animation. The consumers expected to see animated apes but instead discovered that the provider had stolen their NFTs, digital assets on a blockchain that represent ownership of virtual or physical goods.
The pair seemed to have phished holders of not only BAYC collections but also Azuki and Doodles, two additional popular NFT collections.
Two of the five are allegedly responsible for the site and marketing, while the other three are accused of advertising and money laundering.
Christophe Durand, the deputy director of the OCLCTIC, has stated that the investigation was sparked by the online investigations conducted by ZachXBT, a self-proclaimed on-chain investigator, into these supposed crimes.
In an August article dubbed “Scammers in Paris,” ZachXBT first uncovered the scam. The Paris police believe the major figures in the swindle were Mathys and Camille, who were identified thanks to digital traces of the flow of crypto funds at the time.
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