"Animate your Bored Ape" scammers linked to more phishing attacks amounting to more than $2.5 million

Screenshot of an Instagram post promising to animate users' Bored Ape NFTs. Text reads "Wanna turn your Ape or Mutant into a cool GIF? - High quality - All attributes working - Only gas fees to pay (50$) boredapeyachtclub.github.io (LINK IN BIO) PM @exyt to get gas fees refunded!"Screenshot of an Instagram post promising to animate users' Bored Ape NFTs (attribution)
Crypto sleuth zachxbt has uncovered a French scam duo, Mathys and Camille, who he believes were behind the March "turn your BAYC animated" phishing scam in which they stole a collector's Bored Ape NFT and flipped it for 264 ETH (at the time worth $764,000). He has also tied them to four other Bored Ape holders who fell victim to fake "animator" phishing schemes that also stole pricey NFTs including Doodles and Mutant Apes. Among them, they lost NFTs collectively valued at $1.7 million. In his investigation, zachxbt also uncovered other crypto wallets that appeared to contain proceeds from other phishing scams, totaling around 497 ETH (~$851,000). "Undoubtedly there is more to uncover, but there is only so much that can be tracked through Tornado Cash," he wrote.