Case Studies & Research
Investigation breakdowns, OSINT methodology, and academic research made accessible — all posts, newest first.
Leveraging Open-Source Intelligence to Combat Cryptocurrency Investment Scams
A follow-up study returning to the same fraudulent platform case, this time pushing an iterative off-chain OSINT enrichment cycle to see how far domain, contact and alias data can take an investigation once the blockchain trail goes cold.
Evaluating an Investigative Process for Cryptocurrency-Related Crimes
Peer-reviewed evaluation of a proposed 5-phase crypto crime investigation methodology, applied to a real case where an elderly pensioner lost R4.95m to a fraudulent investment platform.
Analysis of a Cryptocurrency Investment Scam: Pig Butchering
Peer-reviewed case study tracing a romance scam that escalated into a "pig butchering" crypto investment fraud, from Tinder match to on-chain tracing and Maltego link analysis.
Top Crypto Scams in 2022-2024: Trends, Tactics, and Regulatory Responses
Peer-reviewed analysis of the biggest crypto scams since the pandemic — Terra Luna, FTX, Celsius, Thodex and more — with a breakdown of tactics, losses, and how regulators responded.
Vulnerabilities to Crypto Currency Scams and Online Persuasion Strategies
Peer-reviewed analysis of the psychology behind crypto scams — applying Cialdini's persuasion principles to giveaway scams, pump-and-dumps, and the MTI Ponzi scheme.
An Analysis of a Cryptocurrency Giveaway Scam: Use Case
Co-authored academic case study tracing a Michael Saylor impersonation giveaway scam's ETH flows through Kucoin, FixedFloat, Binance and more using Breadcrumbs.
Cryptocurrency-crime Investigation: Fraudulent Use of Bitcoin in a Divorce Case
Tracing bitcoin mining proceeds hidden from a spouse during a divorce settlement, from wallet address to exchange, using Maltego and QLUE.
An Analysis of the MTI Crypto Investment Scam: Use Case
Co-authored academic case study tracing the $1.7bn MTI Ponzi scheme's Bitcoin inputs and outputs on-chain with QLUE and Maltego.
An Analysis of Crypto Scams during the Covid-19 Pandemic 2020-2022
Giveaways, rug pulls, phishing, Ponzi schemes and pump-and-dumps — the worst crypto scams since the pandemic, and how to spot them.
Bitcoin…Why? What? How? Why does it has value?
Why Satoshi invented it, how proof-of-work actually works, and why Bitcoin has value at all.
The History of Money (Barter to Bitcoin)
From the Barter System and Bretton Woods to Nixon, SWIFT, and why Bitcoin is different from fiat.
Why I'm Building OSINTrace: My Research Into OSINT, Blockchain Crime & Scams
The PhD, the Maltego license, the work with the Hawks — the research behind OSINTrace's methodology.
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