A crime that won’t pay? Five people were indicted in Paris yesterday for theft of several non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including Bored Apes. Proof that the police are increasingly reactive to these new types of theft?
In Paris, 5 individuals indicted for theft of NFTs
The prosecution confirmed to AFP that the five individuals would have carried out these thefts between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022. It was phishing: they would have made the victims believe that they could animate their profile photos, thus recovering the information allowing them to steal the non-fungible tokens.
Several collections were targeted, but it was unsurprisingly the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) that brought in the most money for criminals. A coin worth approaching one million dollars would indeed have been stolen. In total, the police identified five victims, one of whom allegedly had 3 NFTs stolen. The amount of the fraud would amount to 2.5 million dollars.
The suspects are believed to have been born between 1998 and 2003 and would reside respectively in Paris, Caen and Tours. The parents of one of them were also taken into custody, then released without prosecution, according to the prosecution. Two of them would have taken care of the fake website and marketing, and the other three would have promoted these fake services offered.
👉 To go further – What is a non-fungible token (NFT)?
A Twitter user behind the investigation
According to Christophe Durand, the person responsible for the procedure, he is a Twitter user who would have initially investigated on his side. He would have reported the case to the police, who would have verified his information in order to proceed with the indictment of the accused persons.
NEW ARTICLE LIVE: Tracking down French phishing scammers that’ve stolen millionshttps://t.co/BHBHBGGobH
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) August 8, 2022
A computer school to which one of the suspects belongs a priori had reacted to the news, explaining have submitted the report to its teams:
Thank you for the report, I will pass it on to our educational and administrative teams. I also invite you to consult your rights and contact the authorities at https://t.co/WXwKhgRstn.
— 42 (@42born2code) August 9, 2022
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Law enforcement trains on blockchain
Investigation had been opened by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on August 23 by the Central Office for Combating Crime Related to Information and Communication Technologies (OCLCTIC). In France as elsewhere, the police have had to train in these new technologies in order to better track criminals.
As we explained to you in our interview with Major Erwan Bouliou, the police forces begin to have specific training for this type of offense. The NFT industry in particular is relatively new, so education about it is crucial to prosecuting wrongdoers.
👉 On the same subject – The Police and the Gendarmerie are recruiting blockchain experts
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Source: AFP
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Journalist at Cryptoast, I fell into the pot of cryptocurrencies a few years ago. I am passionate about the innovative technologies that stem from the blockchain and I like to find the most crispy information to share with you.
Marine Debelloir
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