Crypto sleuth ZachXBT says wrong suspect detained in Bored Ape NFT theft

Law enforcement detained the wrong person for a 2022 scam that pilfered more than $1 million worth of Bored Ape non-fungible tokens (NFTs), cybersecurity researcher ZachXBT said

In a May 9 X post, ZachXBT said he identified the wallet behind the scam and linked it to an X account that has since been deleted

But in 2023, law enforcement detained Sam Curry, a former Yuga Labs security researcher, at an airport as a suspect in the incident, ZachXBT said. Yuga Labs is the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection

“It’s unfortunate to see how a security researcher was detained when stronger leads on a threat actor potentially responsible exist,” ZachXBT said.

The attacker stole 14 Bored Ape NFTs in 2022. Source: ZachXBTRelated: Crypto sleuth ZachXBT says he unmasked 50x Hyperliquid whale

Anonymous attacker

In December 2022, an anonymous attacker stole 14 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, which at the time traded for roughly $86,000 each, according to data from CoinSlam.

Law enforcement then “mistakenly reviewed logs from OpenSea which included [Curry’s] home IP address and used this to incorrectly link him as the suspect,” ZachXBT wrote.

“In reality as part of his security work at Yuga, [Curry] had been investigating the theft and used a private key put in the JavaScript of the website by the threat actor,” ZachXBT said

ZachXBT said he used forensic tracing — including reconstructing the flow of funds through Tornado, an Ethereum mixer — to identify a person he alleges is a likely suspect in the 2022 theft.

He said law enforcement officials should “request all data related to [the individual’s] social media accounts” and dig into on-chain transactions associated with their alleged wallet

Launched in 2021, Bored Ape Yacht Club is among the most valuable NFT collections, with a cumulative market capitalization of more than $300 million, according to data from CoinGecko

As of May 9, Bored Ape NFTs trade for roughly $30,000 each, according to NFT marketplace OpenSea. Individual NFTs vary in price due to unique characteristics

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