The Department of Justice (DOJ) has brought forth fraud charges against Soufiane Oulahya for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to impersonate OpenSea, the world’s largest NFT marketplace, with the aim of gaining unauthorized access to cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). In a press release on Monday, the DOJ announced the indictment against Oulahya.
According to the DOJ, Oulahya created a copycat website of OpenSea in September 2021 and paid for sponsored advertisements on a popular search engine to ensure that his spoof website would appear first in search results.
The unsealed indictment, filed by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, only mentioned one victim—an unnamed individual who suffered a loss of approximately $450,000 worth of Ethereum and NFTs. The victim unknowingly logged into the fraudulent website shortly after its creation and entered the details of their crypto wallet, which held their valuable crypto-assets. Allegedly, Oulahya gained access to the victim’s wallet using the provided identification number and transferred the contents to a wallet under his control. Subsequently, he sold the victim’s NFTs on legitimate NFT marketplaces. The DOJ claims that Oulahya sold a total of 39 of the victim’s NFTs, including notable ones like a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT and a Meebit NFT, both created by Yuga Labs.
Currently, Oulahya, a 25-year-old national of the Kingdom of Morocco, is held in his home country on foreign charges. However, he will be extradited to New York to face charges of wire fraud, access device fraud (two counts), and aggravated identity theft. Oulahya will also be required to forfeit any property obtained through the alleged fraud.
In a press release, Damian Williams emphasized that digital assets, such as cryptocurrency and NFTs, are not immune to cyber fraudsters and warned that his office is committed to prosecuting such cases both domestically and internationally. Williams referred to Oulahya’s actions as a adaptation of an old cybercrime technique called “spoofing,” which involves creating a copycat website.
OpenSea, the targeted platform, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This is not the first instance of the DOJ intervening in NFT-related crimes. In May, Nate Chastain, a former OpenSea employee, was convicted of insider trading following a DOJ investigation. The involvement of law enforcement agencies in tackling such crimes highlights the need to address the emerging challenges posed by the rapidly evolving world of NFTs and digital assets.