NFT Scammer Nicknamed ‘Devil’ Stole $5M Over Last Year – NFTgators
Quick take:
- A crypto scammer nicknamed “Devil” has stolen more than $5 million in NFT fraud.
- According to NFT fraud researcher ZachXBT, Devil began stealing from unsuspecting NFT traders in October 2021.
- The scammer was only expelled by Dog, his colleague after their first project together was shut down barely a month after launch.
A non-fungible token (NFT) racketeer Elliot, nicknamed Chinese or Devil, has been revealed to have stolen more than $5 million in NFT scams orchestrated using phishing links and blackmail.
Crypto investigator ZachXBT believes the scammer has been deceiving unsuspecting NFT traders since last October.
Zach’s research took him as far back as Elliot’s NFT collection Crazy Lemur Club (CLC), his colleague. At the time, the two went by the name “Cat” and “Dog” as the creative minds behind the project.
A phishing link is an Internet link created with the purpose of tricking anyone who clicks on it into visiting a malicious website, where they may end up losing important information about their crypto wallets or buying a fake product.
On the other hand, a rye move is an NFT project created for the purpose of raising money from unsuspecting retail traders with no intention of ever delivering on the promises of the project. In most cases, NFT projects are closed within months.
According to Zach, Elliot used both routes to steal more than $5 million in crypto and NFT fraud.
His first NFT rug pull occurred in November 2021 after shutting down the Discord channel and website associated with the Crazy Lemur Club (CLC) NFT collection. His colleague “Dog” soon took to Instagram to shame the act, branding “Cat” a fraud.
“Devil on Instagram Cat aka Chinese aka Elliot is a scammer, don’t take him, he will encourage you and claim he’s a millionaire,” Dog wrote on Instagram in November 2021.
The collection had reportedly earned 82 ETH ~$320k at the time, which was eventually sent to the crypto mixing platform Tornado Cash.
In August, Tornado cash was found to be used by NFT fraudsters to launder 52% of the $100 million stolen between July 2021 and July 2022, Elliptic reported.
The platform was also sanctioned by the US government as part of an ongoing crackdown on platforms used by criminals to launder crypto.
According to ZackXBT, Devil/Elliot shifted the blame to his colleague “Dog” after one of the victims of the CLC NFT confronted him on Instagram.
In 2022, Elliot decided to focus on phishing links, which sent those who clicked on them to fake Sudoswap and NFT Trader websites. Cryptanosaurus was one of the earliest victims of Devil/Elliot’s new strategy, losing two Bored Ape NFTs to the cheater on January 4, 2022.
In mid-January, “Cat” was at it again, this time stealing several CloneX and various other NFTs using 0x9114, using the username “Matthew Stokey” on OpenSea.
In early February, bo66ydigital lost 1 BAYC and 2 MAYC to the scammer.
According to Zack’s findings, Elliot used Tornado cash to launder money from phishing scams. In early 2022, the fraudster made several deposits to the platform.
Elliot has since orchestrated several phishing scams using different names, including 0x0Poor in February, which Zach matched with Instagram user ‘$ex’.
Recent online activity suggests that Elliot is a client of renowned crypto scammer Monkey Drainer, ZachXBT wrote.
Keep yourself updated:
