$100K Recovered from the ZachXBT Scammer, FBI Investigation Continues

The seized property included a Bored Ape Yacht Club and Doodles

NFT, 85.6 Ether, and a flashy Audemars Piguet watch, which ultimately enabled ZachXBT to identify the suspected scammer.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has taken two non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from a phishing scammer that were worth over $100,000 and 86.5 Ether.

Chase Senecal, also known online as Horror (HZ), is the alleged con artist who was first identified through a lengthy analysis conducted and published back in September by independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.

Seneca's property, which included a $41,000 Audemars Piguet (AP) Royal Oak Watch, was "seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law," according to the FBI's formal statement published on February 3.

The FBI's notification provided limited information on the incident, which occurred on October 24th. The seized NFTs, Bored Ape Yacht Club#9658 and Doodle #3114, were valued at $95,495 and $9,361 respectively at the time of seizure. The 86.5 ETH was worth $116,433 at the time of seizure but has since increased to $144,000.

The legal proceedings against Senecal remain unclear. However, the FBI's law enforcement bulletin states that a federal forfeiture is a tool used by the government to take ownership of property involved in a crime without compensating the individual. This can occur in a civil procedure or after the conviction of an individual in a criminal trial.

Although the FBI has not officially acknowledged it, ZachXBT, the on-chain sleuth, tweeted on February 3rd that the property seizure was a result of his investigation.

For damaging so many individuals in this area, ZachXBT said, "I look forward to possibly seeing other phishing criminals face a similar fate in the future."

People in the neighborhood have joked that the FBI will change its profile photo to Ape #9658 as a result of the discovery of a Bored Ape NFT.

Notably, ZachXBT was able to identify Senecal's identity and on-chain activities during the probe thanks in large part to the showy AP watch.

On September 2nd, ZachXBT uncovered a major scam involving Horroz (HZ) and a luxury watch. After seeing HZ brag about the watch on social media, ZachXBT reached out to a few mutual friends who sell watches and eventually managed to get in contact with the person who sold the watch to Senecal.

Unfortunately for Senecal, the payment was made on the blockchain using USD Coin. ZachXBT's research revealed that the address HZ used to pay the watch seller $47.5k was funded by multiple addresses used to scam people with hacked Twitter accounts, such as @deekaymotion, @Zeneca_33, @ezu_xyz, and @JRNYclub.

This is not the first time ZachXBT's research has been instrumental in helping government authorities. In October, France's national cyber unit cited ZachXBT's work in helping them catch and charge a group of alleged fraudsters on suspicion of stealing $2.5 million worth of NFTs via phishing scams. ZachXBT's research has proven to be invaluable in the fight against cybercrime.