Feds Hit The Jackpot In NFT Scam Investigation

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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has shocked the NFT industry by seizing two non-fungible tokens from a phishing scammer.

While it seems like the NFT market is getting back on its feet in January 2023, the trading volumes rose for two straight months with January recording the highest volume since June last year. This growth is seemingly unprecedented.

However, this recent news can be a game-changer for the ongoing positive trend that the NFT industry is seeing. Here’s what is to be understood about the FBI’s scam investigation, and some of the upcoming NFT crypto projects that provide a safer alternative to NFTs and investing in them.

The FBI Hits Scammer Chase Senecal

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has seized two non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are allegedly more than $100,000 from a phishing scammer.

Chase Senecal, the alleged scammer in question, who goes by the name of Horroz (HZ) online came into the limelight due to an intensive investigation by independent blockchain investigator and sleuth ZachXBT. Twitter user ZachXBT undertook the activity way back in September and saw that the FBI came into action.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation posted an official notification on February 3rd. The notification outlined that Senecal’s property included an Audemars Piguet (AP) Royal Oak luxury watch worth $41,000.

The notification further added that the property was seized on October 24th. The NFTs included Bored Ape Yacht Club’s #9658 and Doodle #3114, which were valued at a total of around $100,000 at the time of seizure.

While the FBI hasn’t mentioned much about ZachXBT’s involvement in their investigation, the blockchain detective mentioned in one of his Twitter threads about his role.

1/ I am very happy to share the FBI seized crypto, BAYC 9658, AP watch, and Doodle 3114 from the phishing scammer known as Horror (HZ) aka Chase Senecal as a result of my thread. pic.twitter.com/H1JjOjQNuF
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) February 3, 2023

While there’s no clarity on the degree of legal proceedings that have taken place against Senecal for now, the FBI’s law enforcement bulletin, federal forfeiture is a law enforcement tool that enables the government to “remove—without compensation for the individual—ownership of property involved in a crime.”

Top Upcoming Crypto Projects With Safe & Promising NFT Ecosystem

Some promising crypto projects are coming up, with quite an effective NFT ecosystem embedded in them. These aren’t just safe, but have additional utility and are an integral part of that project’s ecosystem.

Meta Masters Guild ($MEMAG)

Meta Masters Guild has become a popular name in the list of upcoming crypto projects and is a favorite amongst gamers. It has become the largest and the fastest-growing play-to-earn gaming guild of 2023.

The team behind Meta Masters Guild is working with the goal of creating the world’s first Web3 gaming guild. Creating high-quality mobile-focused, blockchain-integrated games is the goal behind Meta Masters Guild.

When it comes to non-fungible tokens, it is a big part of the Meta Masters Guild ecosystem. One of the upcoming games that Meta Masters is coming up with, is called Raid NFT.

The upcoming game is a turn-based fantasy fighting game where the players must choose between several warrior classes and then participate in a battle in one of many environments. The players can then earn NFTs or gems by completing challenges in the game.

Another upcoming title from Meta Masters Guild is going to be Meta Masters World which will be a metaverse for the members of the game and is an exploration game set in an expansive virtual world. The players will have full autonomy in the game and every in-game item in the game will be an NFT. While the game is still in the discovery phase, there are a lot of hopes pinned on it.

As of now, Meta Masters Guild is currently at Stage 5 of its Presale and has already raised close to $3 million in a matter of few days. For gamers, and crypto enthusiasts who also want to explore NFTs as a means of interaction with the blockchain ecosystem, this is the perfect crypto project to do so.

RobotEra ($TARO)

RobotEra is another crypto project for someone who’s interested in exploring the realms of a sandbox-like metaverse building experience. This project involves users becoming robots, acquiring resources from the planet, and creating their own robot companions. It is a community-based game in a true sense as it further allows users to participate in the creation of a world.

It also provides a shared multiverse that connects with other worlds, opening theme parks, concerts, museums, and much more. There are a number of NFT communities within the RobotEra world.

Every player in the RobotEra universe is expected to be presented with a digital robot character. These digital identities are what players will be able to use when they first log into the metaverse. Apart from just Robot NFTs, the users can also acquire a land NFT if they have their own Robot NFT avatar. They can acquire different types of lands across the RobotEra universe.

Another NFT component in the game is the Robot Companion NFT which is an important feature in the RobotEra universe. These companions will be NFTs which can be traded and can provide a substantial side income to their owners.

What makes RobotEra even safer is the fact that its contract code is fully audited by SharkTeam and is completely safe. Moreover, an additional KYC process is also in place by CoinSniper.

RobotEra is currently at Stage 1 of its Presale and has already raised $800,000 plus.

Fight Out ($FGHT)

Fight Out is another project in the space that has a major element of NFTs present.

The project is aiming to capitalize on the ever-popular fitness industry. It is a fitness app and gym chain that is aiming to gamify the fitness lifestyle that users are involved in. Users involved in Fight Out are rewarded for completing workouts, completing challenges, and growing the Fight Out community.

Fight Out is currently in the Presale stage. Although, once launched the app will have its own tokenized economy, where users will be able to earn rewards for completing all the moves to earn tasks.

At the beginning itself, just after the sign-up, users will be able to create their own digital NFT avatar, which can be utilized in the metaverse and upgraded by completing their tasks.

One of the main aspects where NFTs are included is the NFT Avatars. As soon as the user creates an account they get a soulbond NFT Avatar. These cannot be sold and the users can hold them for life. These NFTs will also represent the user’s data and other statistics and are a visual representation of the users in the metaverse.

Conclusion

While the scam that has reached the limelight isn’t directly related to the security of NFTs, there seems to be some sort of impact that the industry might face due to this news.

After a dismal 2022, the users are finally looking up to the future prospects that NFTs contain for the upcoming year. The ongoing investigation is certainly going to make the entire blockchain community safer and reduce such instances.

Users looking for getting into NFTs, can further explore projects such as RobotEra, Fight Out, and more which have the tendency to provide decent returns in the near future.

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