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ZachXBT's latest investigation: Exposing details of SIM card swapping attacks.

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Investigation shows that over $4.5 million funds were stolen by Yahya through SIM card swapping and other means.

Original author: @zachxbt

Original source: ZachXBT, Twitter

Translated by: Sharon, BlockBeats

Editor's note: @zachxbt is an on-chain detective who has previously investigated multiple on-chain attacks and theft incidents. This article is @zachxbt's latest investigation, which is a deep dive into a Canadian scammer named Yahya who is suspected of stealing over $4.5 million through SIM card swapping and other methods. Just last month, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin also lost approximately $691,000 due to a SIM card swapping attack. The following is the original text of this investigation:

This is an investigation into a Canadian scammer named Yahya, who is suspected of being involved in more than 17 SIM card swaps, resulting in over $4.5 million being stolen.

Yahya's job is to use his panel to search for X/Twitter accounts so that fraudster Skenkir can find SIM swap targets in the United States. As compensation for his work, Yahya will receive a certain percentage of the reward from each attack.

EX: The above is a screenshot of Yahya's presentation tool.

In July 2023, Yahya and HZ (scammers whose assets were seized by the FBI) pretended to sell access to their panel and scammed a person named Amir for $250,000 (approximately 136 ETH). This exposed Yahya's wallet address: 0x7da33a98247b584b0070355881be9085126b53e1.

Payment sent on July 2, 23 at 3:04 (UTC) and confirmed on July 2, 23 at 3:20 (UTC).

Yahya's wallet address made things very interesting. By repeatedly using the same address for panel scams as he did for SIM swap payments, it linked all of his activity together. He received over 390 ETH (approximately $720,000) to his address from more than 17 SIM swap attacks.

Case 1: @GutterCatGang: On July 7, 2023, a GCG team member's SIM card was swapped, and as the phone number was attached to their account, the attackers gained access and posted malicious links. @digging4doge lost a six-figure value NFT, resulting in a loss of over $720,000. Yahya received $250,000 for his efforts. Click the link to view and learn about his discussion on selling the stolen assets.

Case 2: @Bitboy_Crypto: On June 10, 2023, Bitboy Crypto replaced their SIM using the same method as GCG, resulting in a loss of $950,000. Ironically, one of the scammers, named Smok, eventually ran away with the funds that were scammed from other scammers.

Case 3: @SlingshotCrypto: On June 19, 2023, Slingshot was attacked in the same way, resulting in a loss of $36,000. Yahya received $9,700 in search fees. Click the link for details.

Case 4: @PleasrDAO: On July 19, 2023, they began targeting Jamis, a core member of the PleasrDAO team who had recently suffered a traumatic brain injury. Unfortunately, this resulted in a loss of $1.3 million. One of the larger victims lost $807,000 worth of MAGIC, while Yahya received $144,000. Click the link for details.

Yahya spent thousands of dollars buying watches and unreleased Juice WRLD songs, such as: Dark Tints, Biscotti in the Air, Oxy in the Dark, No Jumper.

When facing people, he showed almost no remorse for his actions: "I am not a bad person, I am just like a brother, they just provided me with a lot of money for searching."

Before participating in illegal activities, Yahya was a contributor to Benzinga at SMM using the name Yahya M**. I don't understand why you would take the risk of searching for SIM card swaps if everything can be traced back to you.

I hope some of the content can help as a basis for action to combat these scammers, who have harmed many people in the field through SIM swapping and phishing. Chat records and other materials have been archived, and I am willing to provide them to the victims.