On-chain sleuth helps freeze $800K of $2M crypto ransom

In 2023 on-chain researcher ZachXBT assisted French authorities and Binance in tracing and freezing roughly $800,000 of a $2 million ransom paid after the streamer TeufeurS’s family was kidnapped in France. The tracing work contributed to the arrests of six suspects in the case.

ZachXBT tracked the movement of funds on public blockchains and coordinated with Binance’s security team to flag and secure accounts holding part of the ransom. The streamer paid the $2 million after a relative was taken; investigators located about $800,000 of those proceeds on-chain and secured them through exchange intervention.

The researcher has taken on multiple cases involving stolen crypto, helping retail victims and law enforcement identify wallets and request asset freezes where possible. He has emphasized the need for rapid action because coins and tokens can move through exchanges and mixing services in a short time frame.

“I prioritize these types of cases as they have grown more frequent because of this disturbing trend,” ZachXBT wrote on X. He kept his involvement in the TeufeurS case confidential while investigators worked on arrests.

French authorities have reported dozens of physical attacks tied to crypto holdings since January. One recent incident involved impostors posing as police who extorted nearly $1 million in bitcoin from a family on April 21. France requires residents to declare main wallet addresses to exchanges and to report digital-asset accounts for tax purposes; officials and analysts say such reporting and any data leaks can expose ownership information.

Investigators and on-chain analysts say that when initial ransom wallets are known and exchanges are notified quickly, part of the funds can sometimes be intercepted. At the same time, funds moved rapidly off-platform or routed through multiple services remain difficult to trace and recover. TeufeurS later said he abandoned cryptocurrency and left France for his family’s safety.