In a new Twitter thread, blockchain detective Zachxbt has revealed the identities of four people allegedly linked to various non-fungible token (NFT) rug pulls.

$2.8 million from fraud

In the April 27 thread, he claimed that the four people were from Croatia and had run nine different NFT projects, raising at least $2.8 million.

1/ Well, all too often, NFT scammers choose to stay on Twitter, and sadly this group is no different.

Four people from Croatia have worked on 9 different projects since September 2021, stealing at least $2.8 million in total.

Let’s dive in. pic.twitter.com/TTihrIw3gd

— zachxbt (@zachxbt) April 27, 2022

NFT projects include DAOTurtles, Saconi Holmovimiento, Pixel Cat Gang, Baller Headz, Bored Ape Tattoo Shop, Trippy Ape, Acid Ape Candy, High Club and Drippy Jesus. According to him, eight of those projects no longer have active websites and their Twitter pages have been taken down.

Zachxbt was able to identify these masterminds via their ENS addresses. He explained that the three ENS addresses lexii.eth, keelito.eth and mvpnft.eth interacted the most with NFT projects.

This was evident through a graphical visualization of the proceeds from these NFT projects. The visualization shows that most of the funds ended up in 5 accounts at Binance.

A simple Twitter search revealed that two of them are on Twitter; Lexiieth recently deactivated his account, while keelito.eth changed his username to hedgefundnft.

However, the person behind keelito.eth is trying to erase their association with the name. They even went so far as to burn the name. He has since deleted his Twitter account.

But that wasn’t enough to stop Zachxbt from revealing her true identity. According to him, he was able to use information from an anonymous source and Discord to expose the four Croatians, aged between 20 and 23.

Their real names are reportedly Janko Pribicevic, Fran Kosutic, Martin Vucemil Prelovsek and Andrija Putanec. All are on Instagram where they follow each other.

7/ Well, who are they?

Well, using information from Discord and an anonymous friend, I was able to link them to these four people from Croatia, aged 20-23.

Janko Pribicevic
Fran Kosutic
Martin Vucemil Prelovsek (remember mvp.eth)
Andrija Putanec

They all follow each other on Instagram pic.twitter.com/1FcS4SmFFC

— zachxbt (@zachxbt) April 27, 2022

Blockchain transactions leave traces

This revelation is another example of bad actors in the NFT scene scamming thousands of people with projects that have no potential. Millions have been lost to NFT rug pulls this year alone.

One mistake all these scammers make is that they don’t understand that they are not truly anonymous on the blockchain. Through their wallet addresses and online activities, Zachxbt was able to identify several of them.

However, the lack of a clear regulatory framework makes it difficult to bring these scammers to justice. There have been some positive developments recently as the US Department of Justice arrested and prosecuted the masterminds behind the Frosties NFT rug pull. Meanwhile, New York is considering legislation criminalizing carpet pulling.