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ZachXBT Uncovers Canadian Fraudster Yahya Involved in Several SIM Swap Incidents Resulting in $4.5M Theft
ZachXBT has returned with another investigation.
This time, a Canadian fraudster known as Yahya has been revealed by the pseudonymous on-chain investigator for their purported involvement in over 17 SIM swap incidents, leading to the theft of more than $4.5 million.
ZachXBT Reveals Fraudster Yahya
ZachXBT found that Yahya’s activities included performing account searches on various platforms, especially X/Twitter, utilizing his panel. This allowed the scammer Skenkir to pinpoint potential targets in the United States for SIM swap operations.
In exchange for his services, Yahya received a share of the funds acquired through each successful operation. A significant event took place in July 2023, when Yahya, in partnership with HZ, a scammer whose assets had been confiscated by the FBI, deceived an individual named Amir out of $250,000 (equivalent to 136 ETH). They falsely claimed to be selling access to Yahya’s control panel, which inadvertently revealed Yahya’s wallet address in the process.
Upon examining Yahya’s address linked to the Amir transaction, ZachXBT discovered a recurring pattern – the same address was reused for both the panel scam and the SIM swap payments, effectively connecting all of his actions.
In total, he received over 390 ETH (valued at approximately $720K) to his address from more than 17 SIM swap incidents.
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The crypto investigator cited three instances, which included sim swapping a GCG team member, Bitboy Crypto, also known as Ben Armstrong, Slingshot, and PleasrDAO core team member Jamis, who recently experienced a serious brain injury.
According to ZachXBT, Yahya spent thousands on luxury watches and unreleased Juice WRLD tracks such as Dark Tints, Biscotti in the Air, Oxy in the Dark, and No Jumper. The crypto investigator also noted that the scammer displayed minimal remorse for his actions when approached by individuals.
He also discovered that prior to engaging in illegal activities, Yahya contributed to Benzinga, a financial news outlet based in Detroit, as a social media manager. ZachXBT expressed confusion as to why someone would willingly take the risk of conducting lookups for SIM swaps when all evidence ultimately points back to them.
“I hope some of this can help serve as a basis for action against these scammers who have harmed many people in the space with SIM swaps and phishing. Chat records and other things have been archived and will be happily provided to victims.”
SIM Swap Incidents
In a previous investigation, ZachXBT revealed that notable individuals such as OpenAI’s CTO, Mira Murati, Daniel Alegre, the CEO of Bored Ape, and the Aptos Foundation were among the 54 high-profile victims of SIM swap attacks. Together, these victims incurred losses exceeding $13 million.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s Twitter account was compromised last month following a SIM swap attack.
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