Four individuals have been linked to a multitude of NFT scams
The four-person group allegedly rugged around nine projects
Their activities stole over $2.8 million in crypto, per reports
The analysis said they’ve operated since around September 2021
The Crypto Sleuth who goes by the monicker ‘Zachxbt’ has supposedly uncovered an elaborate pattern of NFT scams conducted by a squad of four Croatians.
Zachbxt is popular on Twitter for providing in-depth analysis and reports on on-chain activity, usually in connection to suspicious transactions or events in the decentralized finance space and non fungible token industry.
The blockchain investigators’ latest report focuses on four individuals suspected of rugging NFT collectors across nine projects. According to Zachbxt, the projects that were rugged are Acid Ape, Baller Headz, Bored Ape Tattoo Shop, Candy, High Club, DAOTurtles, Drippy Jesus, Pixel Cat Gang, Saconi Holmovimiento, and Trippy Ape.
1/ Well all too often NFT scammers decide to stick around on Twitter and this group sadly is no different.
Four people from Croatia have rugged 9 different projects since September 2021 & have stolen at least $2.8m all together.
Let’s dive in. pic.twitter.com/TTihrIw3gd
— zachxbt (@zachxbt) April 27, 2022
A ‘rug’ or ‘rug pull’ is a term used in the crypto space and it refers to a type of scam where individuals defraud investors of their capital without delivering on their promises or roadmap. In the case of NFTs, the common pattern involves restricting discussions on platforms like Discord or deleting social accounts on Twitter and Telegram.
The collections’ website also usually becomes unavailable as well.
A Breakdown Of Zach’s Rug Analysis
According to the investigator’s Twitter thread from Wednesday, the individuals in question are allegedly four Croatians – Andrija Putanec, Fran Kosutic, Janko Pribicevic, and Martin Vucemil. Zach claims that the connection to their offline identities was made with the help of an anonymous source and information from Discord.
The thread also suggests that all four individuals are familiar with each other as they follow themselves on Instagram.
After analyzing on-chain data and tracing funds from the aforementioned NFT projects, the crypto sleuth alleges that the group collectively stole over $2.8 million from investors and collectors.
Now let’s revisit this visualization of the funds. You can clearly see the funds end up in 5 different Binance exchange accounts. Three ENS addresses then stuck out to me: keelito.eth lexii.eth mvpnft.eth as they interacted with these scams multiple times.
Visualization of rugged funds from the nine projects (Source: Zachxbt’s Twitter)
Following Zach’s unofficial investigations, the self-proclaimed 2D detective supposedly confronted the individuals on social media with the findings. The thread claims that the four individuals have since deleted or deactivated their accounts.
Local news house Netokracija has also picked up the story following Zachbxt’s Twitter thread. Their report suggests that relevant authorities could be looking into the matter as Zach is regarded as a reputable source of information on social media.
