US Charges Six in Alleged Madagascar NFT Wallet-Draining Scheme

Federal prosecutors in Washington announced charges Oct. 27 against six people accused of running a Madagascar-based fake $NFT investment operation that used wallet approvals to steal cryptocurrency from Americans.

The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal complaint estimates losses of at least $516,695 across 74 victim-linked cryptocurrency wallets. That is a wallet count, not a tally of individual U.S. victims.

The six defendants—Chui Kok Wa, Gislen Neukeu, Shamusa Ninsiima, Clement Mugiraneza, Merveille Mudacumura and Nicodemus Hingima Monyancha—are accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Investigators describe Wa as the operation’s leader.

Prosecutors say the group posed as women on dating sites, built relationships with victims and persuaded them to link their wallets to fake $NFT investment websites, including `inftvault.com`.

A guide found on a phone attributed to Wa called the operation “an emotional scam, using the client’s feelings for us to get him to invest,” according to the affidavit.

An Approval That Enabled Repeat Withdrawals

In a test conducted around Aug. 28, according to the affidavit, an FBI agent opened `inftchain.xyz` through MetaMask’s browser and connected a newly created wallet. A subsequent spending-cap prompt from `inftvault.com`, if signed, would have let a third party transfer unlimited $USDT from that wallet at any time.

For a Greenbelt, Maryland, victim who reported losing $11,926.12, the affidavit describes repeated unauthorized withdrawals. One withdrawal took 9,067.64 $USDT about 33 minutes after the victim deposited the tokens into their own wallet.

Investigators traced stolen tokens through intermediary wallets to Binance and OKX. The affidavit says downstream OKX accounts were registered to Chinese users and describes $USDT being converted into Chinese yuan and sent to Alipay and WeChat Pay accounts.

Chainalysis said it assisted the Justice Department’s Scam Center Strike Force and traced one victim who “lost over $30,000,” with stolen funds sent to crypto exchanges for cashout.

Separately, DOJ said cumulative cryptocurrency restrained by the strike force has surpassed $1 billion, compared with the $938.5 million The Defiant reported on Oct. 21. The total covers the strike force’s broader caseload.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro called on Madagascar to extradite the six defendants. DOJ said Madagascar had repatriated numerous suspects to China before the investigation was complete.