British Fraudster Dupes Over 250 Crypto Investors Out of $650,000

Over the past year, a British fraudster operating under the alias Ape_31 has stolen more than $650,000 in cryptocurrencies from over 250 users, according to on-chain detective ZachXBT.

1/ The UK scammer @ape_31 @60711 has stolen more than $650K from 250+ X users in the past year by posting fake PNL screenshots from a Bybit demo account and running a news account to funnel unsuspecting victims into paid services before blocking them upon receiving payment. pic.twitter.com/rWTRPbTiym

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 30, 2024

The perpetrator posted screenshots from a demo account on the Bybit exchange, claiming profits from his trading activities. Using an additional news account, he lured victims into subscribing to copy trading services priced between $250 and $500. He then extracted further funds before blocking the investors on social media.

One user paid $500 for a copy trading subscription. Subsequently, Ape_31 requested a $20,000 deposit. To convince the victim, he provided an API key supposedly for monitoring trades, but in reality, all displayed operations were fake.

4/ Ape 31 gives the victim an API key to “watch” the trades (which are fake)

Ape 31 shows the victim fake PNL screenshots to make them think they are up a lot

He then blackmails them into sending another $20K by claiming he cannot claim the profits until more is sent.… pic.twitter.com/ZowXMcO8cb

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 30, 2024

In another failed over-the-counter deal, a potential victim managed to persuade the fraudster to have a phone call and recorded his voice.

Ape 31 — JUP OTC Scam Attempt pic.twitter.com/rGP7mNWMpy

— Caught in 4k (@bestvideosofct) September 30, 2024

In total, ZachXBT received 16 deposit addresses used by the fraudster on various exchanges from the victims. He suggests the actual number of victims and the total damage could be much higher, as Ape_31 creates new wallets after a certain number of transactions.

7/ I graphed out 16 exchange deposit addresses from wallets victims shared with me which have received $650K in the past year from 250+ people.

I expect there is more stolen funds as every few payments Ape 31 rotates to a new deposit address. pic.twitter.com/g5jOpXL4LX

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 30, 2024

In a concluding post, the detective published gathered information about the fraudster, including exchange wallet addresses on KuCoin, Kraken, Bitget, and Poloniex, an IP address, a phone number, and links to Telegram channels.

Earlier, ForkLog reported that ZachXBT participated in investigating the theft of over 4,100 BTC from an unnamed US lender, Genesis.