zachxbt

Alphapo payment provider hack now estimated at over $60M — ZachXBT

July 25, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Alphapo payment provider hack now estimated at over M — ZachXBT

The on-chain sleuth ZachXBT claims to have found an additional $37 million in losses suffered from the unconfirmed attack.

The alleged Alphapo payments provider hack of July 23 is now estimated to have caused losses exceeding $60 million, according to a July 25 report from on-chain sleuth ZachXBT. The loss was previously reported at roughly $31 million.

Hack update: An additional $37M stolen on TRON & BTC from this hack has been located.

This now brings the total amount stolen to $60M.

This hack appears to likely have been done by Lazarus as they create a very distinct fingerprint on-chain. pic.twitter.com/ACGSXiDwW3
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 25, 2023

Alphapo is a centralized crypto payment provider for e-commerce subscription services, gaming sites and other online businesses. It’s known as the provider for mystery box platform HypeDrop and gambling sites Bovada and Ignition. On July 23, security experts began reporting that the site’s hot wallets appeared to have been drained of at least $21 million, with some sources reporting that the losses exceeded $31 million.

At the time, Alphapo did not comment on the alleged hack, but it did tell Cointelegraph that deposits and withdrawals were being reinstated at new addresses. The team said funds deposited to old addresses will be “additionally verified.” HypeDrop confirmed that its payment provider was “experiencing issues” that were causing withdrawals to be delayed but that withdrawals would be reinstated once the issue was resolved.

Neither company confirmed that the issues were caused by a hack, but security researchers have argued that the large outflows from known hot wallets, combined with stalled withdrawals, imply that the funds may have been moved by an attacker.

The new report from ZachXBT identifies an additional $37 million allegedly drained from the old addresses on the Tron and Bitcoin networks, bringing the total to more than $60 million in losses. Citing data from Dune Analytics, the on-chain sleuth argued that the Lazarus Group may be behind the attack:

“This hack appears to likely have been done by Lazarus as they create a very distinct fingerprint on-chain.”

The Lazarus Group is a cybercrime group first identified by a consortium of security researchers led by Novetta in 2014. The group is believed to have ties to the government of North Korea.

Alphapo is not the only centralized crypto provider to have suffered mysteriously large withdrawals in July. On July 7, cross-chain bridging protocol Multichain suffered over $100 million in unexplained withdrawals. On July 14, the Multichain team announced that it would stop operations after revealing that these withdrawals had been caused by an attacker accessing the protocol’s private keys through a cloud storage service.

ZachXBT’s research cited in Canadian NFT rug pull class action lawsuit

July 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Boneheads

According to court documents, the Boneheads team has been accused of breach of contract, misappropriating funds and misleading investors.

The investigative work of independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT has been cited in a class action lawsuit in Canada against Boneheads, an alleged $3.1 million nonfungible token rug pull.

Tweeting on July 7, ZachXBT highlighted that lawsuit as he reiterated accusations that the Boneheads team “quickly disappeared and spent the mint funds on BAYCs [Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs], luxury goods, and other items never fulfilling the roadmap.”

“Yet another case where my research has been cited,” ZachXBT added.

A class action lawsuit was filed in Canada against the Boneheads team for the $3.1M NFT rug pull

The team quickly disappeared and spent the mint funds on BAYCs, luxury goods, and other items never fulfilling the roadmap

Yet another case where my research has been cited https://t.co/GoIGmPs50g pic.twitter.com/mboWXt3mfm
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 7, 2023

The class action lawsuit was initially filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in mid-June.

As per a June 19 statement of claim, the Boneheads team has been accused of breach of contract with investors by failing to deliver on the project’s roadmap, misappropriating funds, conducting fraudulent misrepresentation and negligent misrepresentation, among other things.

“As of the date of filing of this claim, the Boneheads NFT team has not delivered on a single roadmap promise they had made to Boneheads NFT purchasers,” the filing reads, adding:

“Consumers have not received a single NFT airdrop, token, physical collectible, marketplace access, forging, avatar application, voting right, giveaway, or the dozens of other promises that were made to consumers in consideration for purchasing or minting a Boneheads NFT.”

Looking at the references to ZachXBT, the filing highlights the sleuth’s investigation into the project that was published to Twitter on July 14, 2022, along with additional posts from the following month.

In the initial thread, ZachXBT provided a rundown of how the project allegedly misappropriated funds that were meant to be used to support the Boneheads roadmap.

ZachXBT also outlined how quickly the project became inactive after mint and unveiled who the key players behind the project were, as he tracked their dodgy antics.

9/ Other TikTok videos exist of her flexing luxury trips, designer clothes shopping, and a Gwagon all after the project had raised $3.1m. pic.twitter.com/cTfJ0YXGt4
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 14, 2022

“Despite months of inactivity on social media, the Boneheads team immediately responded to ZachXBT’s posts via Twitter, stating that Boneheads was not a scam but a ‘very deliberately slow creative process,” the filing reads, adding:

“They subsequently announced that 21, a ‘new’ collection, would be dropping on the anniversary of their project launch, in August 2022. No such collection was ever released.”

ZachXBT’s work has now been used on a handful of occasions to help build cases against bad actors in the NFT space.

In February, the FBI seized 86.5 Ether (ETH) and $100,000 worth of NFTs from a phishing scammer following a lengthy investigation by ZachXBT.

In October 2022, France’s national cyber unit also cited ZachXBT’s work in helping it catch and charge a group of alleged phishing scammers suspected of stealing $2.5 million worth of NFTs.

Magazine: NFT Creator: ‘Holy shit, I’ve seen that!’ — Coldie’s Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs

Over $765K worth of NFTs stolen after SIM swap attack on GutterCatGang

July 8, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Over 5K worth of NFTs stolen after SIM swap attack on GutterCatGang

Coin Telegraph

The bad actors utilized a fake GutterCatGang airdrop scam to drain people’s wallets, with at least $700,000 worth of NFTs being stolen from a single address.

More than $765,000 worth of nonfungible tokens has been stolen as part of a reported SIM swap attack on the GutterCatGang NFT project.

The security breach was highlighted by several NFT community members at around 8 pm UTC on July 7, with GutterCatGang co-founder @GutterMitch tweeting out a warning that: “Our Twitter has been compromised please do not interact with any links.”

Our Twitter has been compromised please do not interact with any links
— Gutter Mitch (@GutterMitch) July 7, 2023

Alongside the official GutterCatGang account, co-founder @gutterric was also hacked.

The hacker, or hackers used the accounts to share links to fake “limited edition” GutterCatGang NFT sneaker airdrops that essentially drained people’s hot wallets when they clicked on them.

In an effort to make the fictitious links look more legitimate, the tweets included recent GutterCatGang branding and imagery from the project's phygital sneaker drop in partnership with Puma and NBA/Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball.

GutterCatGang Twitter account has been compromised please do not interact with it. #GutterCatGang @gutterdan_ @GutterCatGang —-> ⚠️⛔️ pic.twitter.com/tBu9fwBI7m
— Burden © (@0x_burden) July 7, 2023

Responding to Gutter Mitch’s thread, prominent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT asserted that the team was hacked via a SIM swap attack, as he questioned the team’s cyber security practices.

“Your team better look at a compensation plan for victims as it is gross negligence to have used SMS 2FA on your socials after all of the recent SIM swaps,” ZachXBT said.

In a separate thread, ZachXBT highlighted two victims of the attack, with one losing a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT worth $65,913 at current floor prices, and another losing a whopping $700,000 worth of NFTs from a host of blue chip collections.

Someone else just lost $700k of assets (couple BAYCs, MAYC, Doodles, BAKCs, etc) pic.twitter.com/noNvkqkw9U
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 7, 2023

Providing an update on the matter, GutterCatGang co-founder @gutterdan_ stated: “We are working with Twitter to regain access to the compromised Gutter-affiliated Twitter accounts.”

“We deeply sympathize with all those impacted and want to assure you that we are taking this matter very seriously and are working with law enforcement to investigate the hack and security breach,” he wrote.

We are working with Twitter to regain access to the compromised Gutter-affiliated Twitter accounts. We deeply sympathize with all those impacted and want to assure you that we are taking this matter very seriously and are working with law enforcement to investigate the hack and…
— Gutter Dan (@gutterdan_) July 7, 2023

At the time of writing, it appears that the accounts are still compromised.

GutterCatGang was launched in mid-2021 and consists of 3000 unique NFT cartoon cat avatars. The current floor price sits at 0.5 Ether (ETH), up almost 615% from the initial cost to mint, according to NFT Price Floor.

Magazine: NFT Collector: Snoop’s NFT nostalgia, The Goose draws Gen Y to Sotheby’s

CZ, Powell and more rally to fund legal fees for on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, surpassing $1M

June 18, 2023 Coin Telegraph

CZ, Powell and more rally to fund legal fees for on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, surpassing M

Coin Telegraph

ZachXBT fears legal fees to defend himself in the defamation lawsuit could “easily exceed” $1 million.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has received over $1 million in donations from the crypto community in just over 24 hours to pay for his legal fees in a defamation lawsuit.

ZachXBT, known for his investigative work in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, has become embroiled in a legal dispute with Jeffrey Huang, better known on Twitter as MachiBigBrother.

On June 16, Huang tweeted that he had filed a defamation lawsuit against ZachXBT, accusing him of damaging his reputation through false allegations.

While Huang didn’t specify those allegations, in June 2022, an article was published by ZachXBT titled: 22,000 ETH Embezzled and Over Ten Projects Failed: The Story of Machi Big Brother (Jeff Huang).

In the article, ZachXBT accused Huang of launching over “over 10 failed pump and dump tokens and NFT projects.”

Responding to the lawsuit in a series of tweets on June 17, ZachXBT called the lawsuit “baseless” and an “attempt to chill free speech.”

He set up a donation wallet address for his followers to assist with the legal fees, which he believes could “easily exceed” $1 million.

3/ I am creating a donation address to assist with legal costs associated with the defense of this matter, which could easily exceed $1m USD.

All leftover funds will be returned on a pro rata basis to contributors.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 16, 2023

He added that the lawsuit “is sickening,” but he “knew one day” it would happen, as that is “the price” of honesty.

“The price of telling the truth is sometimes people dislike what you say” he tweeted.

Several crypto executives donated to ZachXBT and praised him for his work in the crypto and web3 industry.

Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, CEO of crypto exchange Binance praised ZachXBT in a tweet telling him to “keep the industry transparent,” along with a pledge that Binance will “contribute $50K" to his legal fees.

Jesse Powell, co-founder of crypto exchange Kraken, also thanked ZachXBT for “all that” he does, stating he would be donating 10 Ethereum (ETH) (approx. $17,294.30).

In for 10 ETH. Thanks for all that you do. Good luck.
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) June 18, 2023

Meanwhile, Polygon’s founder Sandeep Nailwal tweeted that ZachXBT is the “reason web3 is alive and flourishing,” stating that he will be donating 5 Ether (approx. $8,645.35).

Just one day after ZachXBT shared the link to the donation wallet address on Twitter, he has already exceeded the $1 million mark in contributions.

*ZachXBT’s donation wallet balance. Source: Zapper.xyz*

Cointelegraph previously reported in October 2022 that the French authorities had utilized ZachXBT’s research to charge five people on suspicion of stealing $2.5 million worth of nonfungible tokens (NFT) via phishing scams.

Magazine: Opinion: GOP crypto maxis almost as bad as Dems’ ‘anti-crypto army’

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT sued for libel after claiming plaintiff drained funds from project

June 16, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Blockchain

Plaintiff Jeffrey Huang claims his reputation was damaged when ZachXBT allegedly falsely accused him of embezzlement.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has been sued for libel by one of the people he accused of fraud, according to a June 16 social media post. According to the post, Jeffrey Huang, known as “MachiBigBrother” on Twitter, has accused ZachXBT of damaging his reputation through false allegations.

MachiBigBrother also posted an announcement stating that he is suing the on-chain sleuth.

A year ago, @zachxbt published a Medium article about me that damaged my reputation.
Today, I have filed a defamation lawsuit against him in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
— Machi Big Brother (@machibigbrother) June 16, 2023

ZachXBT responded to the lawsuit by calling it “baseless” and “an attempt to chill free speech.” He pledged to “fight back” against it.

In a thread responding to his own post, ZachXBT linked to the Medium post that is accused of being libelous. Titled “22,000 ETH Embezzled and Over Ten Projects Failed: The Story of Machi Big Brother (Jeff Huang),” the article accused Huang of launching “over 10 failed pump and dump tokens and NFT projects,” including treasury management service Formosa Financial.

One of the claims made in the article is that Formosa Financial co-founder George Hsieh removed 11,000 Ether (ETH) from the project’s treasury:

“Formosa Financial took a turn for the worse when two withdrawals of 11,000 ETH each were made from the Formosa Financial treasury wallet on June 22nd 2018. Unbeknownst to investors, cofounder George Hsieh acting as the sole director of the company, pushing a share buyback through himself, executing on both sides.”

The article claimed that Hsieh subsequently left the project, leaving other officers in charge. According to ZachXBT, the funds drained from the treasury were sent to numerous other wallet accounts shortly afterwards, including one that also received funds from ENS domain harrisonhuang.eth.

In combination with other blockchain data, ZachXBT concluded that “these addresses tie back to Jeff Huang/Mithril.” ZachXBT blamed Jeff Huang for the draining of funds, stating “This chart displays the ETH inflows of angel/private round funds into the multisig before the two 11,000 ETH withdrawals were made by Jeff and George on June 22, 2018.”

Cointelegraph has obtained the complaint filed June 15 on behalf of Jeffrey Huang in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. In it, Huang’s attorney claims that his client did not drain funds from the Formosa Financial Project, stating:

“Not only did Plaintiff not embezzle funds from the Formosa Financial project, he also never had control of any Formosa Financial funds, making embezzlement factually impossible. Indeed, on information and belief, Defendant understood perfectly well that, as a mere outside adviser to the Formosa Financial project, Plaintiff would have no way of directly accessing the allegedly stolen funds in the first place.”

Furthermore, Huang’s legal team claimed that the founders of the project were most likely the ones who stole the ETH from the treasury, as ZachXBT’s arguments “fail to account for the much more likely and obvious explanation that company insiders, rather than an outside advisor like Plaintiff, coordinated to orchestrate the transfers.”

The lawsuit also claims that ZachXBT earns money from donations as a result of his work as an on-chain sleuth, which it alleges is the real reason that he published the article.

In his June 16 Twitter thread, ZachXBT denied these allegations, stating that Huang is trying to “silence” him. “It is sickening to see it come to this,” ZachXBT stated, “but I knew one day this would happen as the price of telling the truth is sometimes people dislike what you say.”

ZachXBT has previously revealed data on many different crypto scams and exploits. On June 10, he identified activity associated with $1 million in crypto drained through Twitter phishing scams. On June 4, he revealed estimates that $35 million had been lost from an exploit of the Atomic Wallet app.

Scammers steal nearly $1M after hijacking 8+ prominent crypto twitter accounts

June 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Scammers steal nearly M after hijacking 8+ prominent crypto twitter accounts

Coin Telegraph

The group of scammers have recently taken over accounts belonging to the founder of Pudgy Penguins, the CTO of OpenAI and even crypto hater Peter Schiff.

Over the past few weeks, a group of scammers has hijacked more than eight Twitter accounts belonging to prominent figures in the crypto space to promote phishing scams. The group has stolen almost $1 million worth of crypto so far, according to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT.

In a June 9 Twitter thread, ZachXBT outlined that he had uncovered several wallets “linked on chain” that are connected to phishing scams promoted by the recently hacked accounts.

“While the majority of these attacks were the result of a SIM Swap it seems other accounts were potentially stolen with a [Twitter admin] panel,” ZachXBT noted.

Over the past few weeks we have seen 8+ account takeovers connected to the same group of scammers as evident by how their addresses are linked on-chain.

I hope @TwitterSafety investigates each attack closely as they have resulted in almost seven figures stolen. @miramurati… pic.twitter.com/ypnqyb5oNy
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) June 8, 2023

The accounts belong to figures such as Pudgy Penguins founder Cole Villemain, DJ and NFT collector Steve Aoki and Bitcoin Magazine editor Pete Rizzo.

Oddly enough, gold proponent and fervent crypto hater Peter Schiff also saw his account hacked to promote a dubious link relating to tokenized gold in Decentralized Finance.

“I hope Twitter Safety investigates each attack closely as they have resulted in almost seven figures stolen,” ZachXBT said, adding that:

“When the scammer gains control of a Twitter account, phishing scams are tweeted out almost immediately. Slow response times from Twitter Support have resulted in some of these tweets staying up for many hours and even days.”

*Tweeted phishing scams. Source: ZachXBT, Twitter*

The blockchain sleuth urged people to use a security key as opposed to opting for SMS-based two-factor authentication.

Another one of the account hacks highlighted by ZachXBT includes OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati.

On June 2, members of the crypto community fired off warnings about her account sharing a phishing link promoting a fake airdrop for an ERC-20 token named OPENAI.

This particular post was live for roughly an hour and was viewed 79,600 times and retweeted 83 times before it was deleted. Notably, the scammers had restricted who could reply to the tweet in a bid to stop people placing warnings on it.

In late May, Arthur Madrid, the co-founder and CEO of metaverse platform The Sandbox was also subject to the same style of Twitter account hack that saw the promotion of a fake SAND airdrop.

It is unclear if this particular hack is connected to the group of hackers identified by ZachXBT however.

Magazine: $3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin — The Silk Road hacker’s story

One crypto wallet launched 114 dodgy memecoins in two months

April 27, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

According to ZachXBT, one alleged scammer in particular launched around 114 projects in the past 45 days alone.

Crypto scammers are ramping up the launch of spurious memecoins over the past two months, according to crypto sleuths.

According to research from blockchain sleuths ZachXBT, one address, in particular, has allegedly launched “114 memecoin scams” in the past 45 days alone.

In an April 26 Twitter thread, ZachXBT tracked the movements of the wallet address: 0x739c58807B99Cb274f6FD96B10194202b8EEfB47, noting that “each time stolen funds from the scam are sent to the exact same deposit address.”

“I suspect there are more too. These are just ones sent to that deposit address lol,” ZachXBT added in response to a comment.

Over the past 1.5 months one person has created 114 meme coin scams.

Each time stolen funds from the scam are sent to the exact same deposit address.

0x739c58807B99Cb274f6FD96B10194202b8EEfB47 pic.twitter.com/uwVAiG9WGG
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 26, 2023

The independent blockchain detective wasn’t able to calculate a financial figure on how much the alleged scamming activity had fetched, as the alleged scammer in question had used multiple wallets to split up funds.

Memecoins are crypto tokens that are inspired by, and built around popular internet jokes or memes, while generally not offering a serious utility or future use case.

However, @lucrafund also did some digging and shared a screenshot on the thread showing that the “criminal mastermind” had sent some of the stolen funds to a Coinbase address, essentially giving away a key personal identifier.

Questioned on why ZachXBT thinks this activity hasn’t yet been flagged by Coinbase, the anonymous sleuth suggested that it may be hard to detect as the funds are generally being sent in “smaller amounts at a time.”

It’s smaller amounts at a time so imagine it’s harder to detect.

Not sure why they would use Coinbase since there are better exchanges to launder on.
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 26, 2023

On April 27, Twitter user @CoinGurruu also posted a similar thread highlighting the alleged scammer wallet address 0xCc16D5E53C1890B2802d5441d23639CAc6cd646F, which has allegedly “launched 2-5 memecoin rugs daily for almost 2 years straight.”

“These devs have incredible hustle. Make sure you label it on Etherscan so you don't line their pockets with your money. Absolute insanity,” they wrote.

This wallet has launched 2-5 memecoin rugs daily for almost 2 years straight:

0xCc16D5E53C1890B2802d5441d23639CAc6cd646F

These devs have incredible hustle. Make sure you label it on Etherscan so you don't line their pockets with your money

Absolute insanity. pic.twitter.com/ffNQ4sTGls
— Guru (@CoinGurruu) April 26, 2023

In a separate novel case this week, ZachXBT also seemingly uncovered another alleged scammer via the wallet address they have tattooed on their back.

Twitter user @NazareAmarga, or Gabriel Marques, is alleged to have launched a nefarious-looking memecoin targeted at duping holders of the legitimate Nakamigos NFT project.

According to ZachXBT, the wallet address tattooed on Marques, which can be seen via a social media post online, was heavily involved in the scam which is said to have fetched around $110,000 worth of Ether (ETH).

Magazine: Crypto Twitter Hall of Flame, Gabriel Haines: Shirtless shitposting and hunting SBF on the meme streets

FBI seizes $100K in NFTs from scammer following ZachXBT investigation

February 4, 2023 Coin Telegraph

FBI seizes 0K in NFTs from scammer following ZachXBT investigation

Bored Ape Yacht Club

The seized property included a Bored Ape Yacht Club and Doodles NFT, 85.6 Ether and a flashy Audemars Piguet watch which ultimately helped ZachXBT identify the alleged scammer.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized two non-fungible tokens (NFTs) worth more than $100,000 and 86.5 Ether (ETH) from a reported phishing scammer.

The alleged scammer in question, Chase Senecal — known as Horror (HZ) online — was initially exposed via a lengthy investigation by independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT posted back in September.

In the FBI’s official notification posted on Feb. 3, it outlined that Seneca’s property — which also included an Audemars Piguet (AP) Royal Oak Watch worth $41,000 — was “seized for federal forfeiture for violation of federal law.”

The FBI’s notification did not detail much other information on the ordeal apart from noting that all of the property was seized on Oct. 24. The specific NFTs include Bored Ape Yacht Club#9658, and Doodle #3114 and were valued at $95,495 and $9,361 at the time of seizure.

The 86.5 ETH was valued at $116,433 at the time of seizure, but is now worth $144,000 at the time of writing.

It is unclear what the full scope of legal proceedings that have taken place against Senecal are at this stage. However, according to the FBI’s law enforcement bulletin, federal forfeiture is a law enforcement tool that enables the government to “remove—without compensation for the individual—ownership of property involved in a crime.”

“It may occur in a civil procedure, like a lawsuit against the item, or after the conviction of an individual in a criminal trial,” the FBI states.

While the FBI has not come out with an official tip of the hat to ZachXBT, the on-chain sleuth noted via Twitter on Feb. 3 that the property seizure did “come as a result” of his investigation.

2/ HZ was responsible for using a Twitter panel to take over accounts like @Zeneca @nounsdao @ezu_xyz @deekaymotion @JRNYclub as well as Discord server attacks @AnataNFT @Lacoste

The thread which started it all I’ve attached below. https://t.co/6dsfZ5jnGl pic.twitter.com/8EYl1yuIik
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 3, 2023

“I look forward to hopefully seeing more phishing scammers suffer a similar fate in the future for harming so many people in this space,” ZachXBT wrote.

With the seizure of a Bored Ape NFT, people in the community have joked that the FBI will change its profile picture to Ape #9658.

*Photoshopped FBI profile pic: @CryptoWithNick on Twitter*

Notably, the flashy AP watch was one of the key identifiers that helped ZachXBT unmask Senecal’s identity and on-chain activity during the investigation.

In a medium post from Sept. 2, ZachXBT explained that after seeing Horroz (HZ) brag about the new watch on social media, he asked “around a few mutual friends who sell watches” and eventually managed to get in contact with the person who sold that specific AP watch to Senecal.

Unfortunately for Senecal, the payment was said to have been made on the blockchain via the use of USD Coin (USDC).

“The address HZ used to pay the watch seller $47.5k was DIRECTLY funded by multiple addresses used to scam people with hacked Twitter accounts such as @deekaymotion, @Zeneca_33, @ezu_xyz, [and] @JRNYclub,” ZachXBT wrote.

This is not the first time ZachXBT’s research has played a key role in helping government authorities. In October, France’s national cyber unit cited ZachXBT’s work in helping it catch and charge a group of alleged fraudsters on suspicion of stealing $2.5 million worth of NFTs via phishing scams.

Onchain Researchers Discover $63M in Ethereum From Harmony Bridge Attack Moved, Hackers Attempt to Launder Funds on Major Exchanges

January 16, 2023 Bitcoin.com

3Commas API leak victims demand refunds and apology for ‘gaslighting’

December 29, 2022 Coin Telegraph

3commas

3Commas finally admitted there was an API leak, after months of refuting community reports that it had occurred. Users were not happy about being "gaslighted."

Victims of the 3Commas API leak are calling for refunds and an apology from the crypto trading platform for being gaslighted over the whole ordeal.

The past couple of months have seen an ongoing back and forth between 3Commas and supposed victims of unauthorized trades coming from their accounts.

3Commas and its CEO Yuriy Sorokin had strongly denied any hack or breach had taken place and had refuted there could have been an inside job from an employee gone rogue. Instead, it suggested any leaked APIs were the result of customers being phished.

you gonna delete these? pic.twitter.com/BwbJkJy8oC
— Daniel Roberts (@readDanwrite) December 28, 2022

On Dec. 28 however, Sorokin finally admitted there had been a sizeable API leak from the firm, confirming a database of API keys shared by a hacker was legitimate:

“We saw the hacker’s message and can confirm that the data in the files is true. As an immediate action, we have asked that Binance, Kucoin, and other supported exchanges revoke all the keys that were connected to 3Commas.”

“We did everything that we could to investigate an inside job, as it was always a possible scenario and on our watch list, but proof of an inside job was not found,” Sorokin added.

The community has been left bewildered by this surprise admission, considering that 3Commas had on Dec. 11 labeled customer reports of a leak as “false rumors shared by bad faith actors using falsified evidence.”

“Just a reminder: For the last 2 months, you have blamed the victims of the hack. You have defamed the victims as ‘bad faith actors’ and alleged they ‘falsified evidence’, when it turns out 3Commas was the ones who were the bad faith actors, lying and falsifying evidence,” wrote Twitter user Pledditor.

Popular crypto trader CoinMamba tweeted that “you kept lying and saying this was our fault instead of taking responsibility and prevented [sic] further exploits. Are you going to refund the users now?”

“Congrats you morons are what’s wrong with the space,” blockchain sleuth ZachXBT chimed in, after he had been posting about the API leak for weeks.

4/ 3Commas finally acknowledged the leak but the damage had already been done. For weeks they have been blaming its users and accepting zero responsibility.

Make sure to never give incompetent clowns like @3commas_io your business ever again. https://t.co/LyNvar7LST pic.twitter.com/RkS6ZgCZEN
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) December 28, 2022

Comments were just as aggressive in response to the 3Commas tweet confirming the leak, with turgut_oztunc writing: “You are really funny guys. We will see [you in] the court if you don't recover our funds asap.“

This whole company should be held accountable and shut down immediately
— çгчpтåvэłî (@cryptaveli) December 28, 2022

Share this video