A Bored Ape Yacht Club and Doodles NFT, 85.6 Ether, and a showy Audemars Piguet watch were among the items taken. ZachXBT was able to identify the alleged fraudster with the aid of these materials.
A total of 86.5 ethereum tickers worth $1,652 and two non-fungible tokens (NFTs) valued over $100,000 have been taken over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Chase Senecal, also known online as Horror (HZ), was identified as a potential con artist in September following a thorough study by the unaffiliated blockchain detective ZachXBT.
Seneca’s belongings, which included a $41,000 Audemars Piguet (AP) Royal Oak Watch, were “seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law,” the FBI stated in a statement issued on February 3.
According to the FBI’s statement, all of the items were seized on October 24 but little further was mentioned about what transpired. Bored Ape Yacht Club #9658 and Doodle #3114 had respective market values of $9,361 and $95,495 at the time they were taken.
The 86.5 ETH were worth $116,433 at the time of confiscation, but as of the publication of this article, they are now worth $144,000.
How many court cases have been filed against Senecal are currently unknown. Federal forfeiture, on the other hand, is described as a law enforcement tool that enables the government to “take, without paying the person, ownership of property tied to a crime” in the FBI’s law enforcement warning.
According to the FBI, “It may happen during a civil proceeding, such as a lawsuit against the thing, or following a person’s conviction in a criminal prosecution.”
On February 3, ZachXBT claimed on Twitter that his inquiry was what “brought about” the property seizure. ZachXBT assisted in the case, although the FBI has not publicly acknowledged this.
“I hope that additional phishing criminals who have harmed so many individuals in this domain will experience the same thing in the future,” remarked ZachXBT.
On the FBI’s Twitter page, is there a bored ape?
The FBI would allegedly alter its profile image to Ape #9658 after the Bored Ape NFT was discovered, according to local jokes.
One of the key pieces of information that helped ZachXBT identify Senecal and his activities on-chain during the inquiry was the bright AP watch.
After witnessing Horroz (HZ) gloat about the new watch on social media, ZachXBT said in a Sept. 2 Medium post that he inquired “about mutual connections who sell watches” and eventually got in touch with the guy who sold Senecal the specific AP watch.
Unfortunately for Senecal, the payment was allegedly made using USD Coin USDC, which is currently selling $1.00 lower, on the blockchain. The addresses @deekaymotion, @zeneca 33, @ezu xyz, and @jrnyclub, among others, were used to defraud other people using stolen Twitter identities, according to ZachXBT, who wrote: “The address HZ used to pay the watch vendor $47.5k was DIRECTLY paid for by a lot of addresses.”
ZachXBT’s study has already greatly aided government officials, and this time is no exception. In October, France’s national cyber unit hailed ZachXBT for assisting them in apprehending and charging a group of alleged con artists who were suspected of stealing NFTs valued at $2.5 million via phishing schemes.