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The U.S. Attorney's Office announced on Monday that an individual has been indicted by U.S. authorities for the theft of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) worth $450,000.
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has issued an indictment accusing Soufiane Oulahyane, a Moroccan citizen, of operating a fraudulent website resembling the renowned NFT marketplace OpenSea. Oulahyane allegedly employed the cybercrime tactic known as "spoofing" to gain unauthorized entry to digital assets and NFTs.
Oulahyane is confronted with numerous charges, including wire fraud, unauthorized use of an access device, and aggravated identity theft, all stemming from the purported incident that took place in September 2021.
"Oulahyane adapted [an] old tool for use in a new and developing arena – the crypto space," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
The accused fraudster employed a counterfeit OpenSea platform to entice a Manhattan NFT holder into signing up and surrendering their seed phrase for the digital wallet. Oulahyane subsequently utilized this information to gain control over cryptocurrency and several NFTs, which he proceeded to sell. Among these NFTs was one from the esteemed "Bored Ape Yacht Club" collection, valued at approximately $92,000 at the time of publication.
Oulahyane has been apprehended in Morocco and may potentially be sentenced to a maximum of 47 years in prison if proven guilty of the charges.
