ZachXBT, a popular Twitter (now X account), who has investigated cases of scam and fraud in the crypto space, has launched a dedicated thread in which it addressed the case of Christian Nieves, better known as Daytwo.
Christian Nieves Named by Crypto Sleuth in Coinbase Mirror Sites Scam
According to the sleuth, Daytwo is supposedly involved in a crypto scam that saw victims duped by fake Coinbase employees – a popular cryptocurrency exchange – and asking them to open accounts at the exchange.
However, the links provided to the victims were not to the original Coinbase website per se, but rather to phishing websites that were meant to steal their credentials, and particularly – access the victims’ private keys, which are the way people authenticate a transaction when using cryptocurrencies.
Because cryptocurrencies are transmitted instantly, and no names of physical persons are displayed, tracing the money, while not too difficult for an expert, is nearly impossible for retail investors who own digital assets as part of their portfolio.
ZachXBT is also known as a popular digital casino, Roobet, where the alleged scammers were able to launder the proceeds. A total of $4 million is thought to have been stolen from the victims, although their number has not been specified, but ZAchXBT suspects as many as 30 thefts occurred.
ZachXBT alleged that he was able to trace Nieves because the suspected mastermind hid his tracks poorly. The digital sleuth claims to have discovered social media footage showing Daytwo playing at Roobet under a moniker, “pawsonhips.”
ZachXBT Believes He Knows What Happened
The sleuth, though, suggested that Nieves’ motivation may not be entirely linked to criminal enterprise, but rather to a genuine problem with gambling and acknowledged that Daytwo could be struggling with an addiction.
“Daytwo has a gambling problem, and you’ll see on-chain how casino deposits get smaller as he loses funds. Recently, this escalated to the point where he started stealing cuts from accomplices,” the anonymous investigator wrote.
Apart from funding his gambling habit, Nieves also reportedly invested part of his ill-gotten funds into Monero – XMR – which has been touted as untraceable and is one of the preferred methods for moving supposedly stolen funds.