ZachXBT

Polygon

A scammer known as “Excite” flaunted stolen wealth and an actual monkey after a Coinbase Commerce contract facilitated $15.9 million in suspicious withdrawals. 
According to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, threat actors <a href="https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1866482673088098696" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">siphoned</a> nearly $16 million from a Coinbase Commerce contract through 1,700 transactions on the Polygon layer-2 scaling network in April 2024. 
The perpetrators bridged stolen (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/usd-coin/" target="_blank">USDC</a>) from Polygon to Ethereum before dispersing the assets across multiple wallet addresses, a common tactic used by crypto thieves to confuse on-chain trackers. 
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 1/ Earlier this year in April 2024 a Coinbase Commerce contract saw $15.9M of suspicious outflows indicating a merchant had potentially been exploited. Shortly after a threat actor with the alias ‘Excite’ began showing off the stolen funds in chats. Let’s dive in. <a rel="nofollow" href="https://t.co/srM7ksPXPa" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/srM7ksPXPa</a>— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) <a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1866482673088098696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">December 10, 2024</a>
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ZachXBT revealed on X that most of the funds remained dormant, but some were deposited into eXch and Stake, a crypto betting platform. 
In May, a Telegram user named “tezedasads12” disclosed their ownership of a wallet containing $6 million from the hack. The individual also claimed control of the “Excite” Instagram page, where they showcased a monkey and luxury watches, allegedly purchased in Denmark with the stolen funds. 
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 While the identity of the victim in this case remains unknown it’s clear a strong lead exists to potentially hold this threat actor legally accountable. Due to how the funds were split three ways I would expect others may have been involved. One question I would have is why did Coinbase’s AML monitoring not flag this suspicious activity within 16 hours. 
 ZachXBT on X 
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ZachXBT has unearthed several Coinbase-related thefts in recent months. In November, the on-chain investigator exposed $6.5 million stolen from a Coinbase user.&nbsp;Suspected crypto scammer Ronald Spektor <a rel="" href="https://crypto.news/new-yorker-involved-in-6-5m-crypto-theft-zachxbt/">deactivated</a> his social media pages shortly after the news broke, fueling speculation about his involvement. 
ZachXBT helped a senior citizen <a rel="" href="https://crypto.news/senior-citizens-bitcoin-recovered-with-zachxbts-help/">recover</a> $275,000 of their Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/bitcoin/" target="_blank">BTC</a>) life savings. The victim, a Coinbase customer, was deceived by Indian impersonators. 
Investigations published by ZachXBT led to arrests in a $238 million crypto heist. Per the August report, a single Genesis creditor was <a rel="" href="https://crypto.news/hacked-bitcoin-whale-may-have-lost-238m-zachxbt/">scammed</a> by fake Coinbase support agents, and scammers stole the 4,064 BTC fortune. 
 Read more: <a rel="" href="https://crypto.news/miami-police-arrest-crypto-scammers-behind-243m-theft/"> Miami police arrest crypto scammers behind $243m theft </a>

Coinbase exploiter flexed crypto and a monkey after $16m heist

crypto.news

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