ZachXBT says he is being ‘borderline harassed’ by US law enforcement.
Blockchain investigator ZackXBT has alleged that he was the target of cross-border harassment by the United States Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation (CI) division when they sought his help in blockchain investigations.
In a report posted on X on March 6, ZachXBT said that while he was willing to help victims and provide vital information to law enforcement, he believed that the US law enforcement agency overstepped his “personal boundaries” in their efforts to get his help. Blockchain crime solving.
“They showed old addresses, contacted private emails using personal information and sent letters when I had readily available public communication methods,” he said.
One of the many images shared by ZachXBT showed an email from an IRS-CI special agent asking for ZachXBT's help, thanking him for his “fantastic job.”
“I ran across your profile on social media and saw an amazing work esp. Your use of blockchain search tools, an email from a special agent, admits that his expertise in the blockchain industry is limited:
“I've been an IRS-CI special agent for a while, but I'm very new to the crypto/cyber scene and was hoping you could help me figure out what to look for. Biggest influence.”
ZackXBT charges that many of the lines of communication were “a blatant disregard for any professionalism.”
This happened after ZachXBT refused to help owners of the complex (SIMPLE) memecoin built on the Base blockchain after its developers abruptly shut down the project on April 4.
He stated that he “doesn't like to spend too much time helping people who prefer to gamble on Vaporware meme coins.”
Meanwhile, the IRS is expanding its partnerships with leading figures and companies in the blockchain research space.
Related: Wormhole's Massive Airdrop Attracts Fraudsters, Spoof Tokens, and $3B Value
In May 2023, Cointelegraph reported that IRS-CI boss Jim Lee's partnership with blockchain analytics company Chinalysis was invaluable.
Lee explained that the unit's efforts to investigate crypto-related crimes would be “impossible” without the infrastructure and tools it now has.
At the time, the IRS-CI estimated that $10 billion worth of cryptocurrency had been seized since it began investigating crimes related to digital assets.
Magazine: NFTs are like nightclubs, crypto is a dynamic religion: NFTStats, NFT Collector
