Eighteen-year-old hackers show off at Discord

Original Odaily Daily Planet (@OdailyChina)

Author | Asher (@Asher 0210)I'm not sure

Last night, the chain detective, ZachXBT, published an 18-year-old hacker from the United States, Dritan Kapllani Jr. According to the disclosed information, this young man, Dritan Kapllani Jr.Suspected involvement in multiple social engineering attacks against encrypted users, cumulatively amounting to approximately $19 millionI don't know. Although he has not yet been formally charged, he has been included in the “conspiracy” of United States judicial documents。

The case was quickly brought to the fore not only because of the huge sums involved but also because of the dramatic starting point -A flairful voice call became a breakthrough for the entire investigation。

It's just that Discord showed up rich once

On April 23, 2026, a dispute took place on Discord's voice channel, which opened the way。

It was a voice call called “Band 4 Band”, where participants compared each other's “power” in the most direct way — showing each other's assets. The atmosphere quickly shifted from tuning to getting better, driven by this sentimentIn order to prove that he is richer and to open the screen sharing, Dritan shows his Exceldus wallet interface, with a balance of approximately $3.68 million。

A few weeks later, the picture was turned back. The chain detective, ZachXBT, started from this address, linked a series of previously dispersed transactions, and a longer financial path emerged。

One hundred and eighty-five bitcoin stolen funds surfaced

The time went back to 14 March 2026, when a theft involving 185 bitcoin was committed, valued at approximately $13 million. The funds were transferred out of the original address in a short period of time and quickly entered the chain diversion system。

Only the following day, approximately $5.3 million was transferred to the wallet displayed by Dritan in Discord voice call (at: 0x4487db847db2fc99372a985743a26f46e0b2bba6). Over the next few weeks, about $5.3 million has been divided, moved through multiple addresses and moved to different locations. By the time that voice conversations took place on April 23, some $1.6 million had been further transferred。

It's not the first time I've been involved in encryption theft

Following the wallet address displayed by Dritan, it soon became clear that the money in it came from more than 185 bitcoins。

According to the chain analysis, the wallet was sourced from multiple instances of social engineering theft in 2025Total amount exceeded $5.85 millionI don't know. Different victims, at different times, but when funds are transferred, they are quickly divided and continue to be transferred through a series of addresses, following a very similar path. When these funds are paired together, it turns out that many of the transfers end up on the wallet address that Dritan shows。

It is worth mentioning that Dritan had a “Band 4 Band” dispute with hacker John Daghita (Lick). Rick was later arrested on suspicion of stealing United States Government funds of approximately $46 million, and in a Telegram post that was later deleted, he also released this old address of Dritan (at: 0x97da0685dba50b4cbabb0ca9e8336f4fbe41122), which is now more a form of revenge。

In terms of chain behaviour, the old address is considered to be used by the same controlling party, in terms of the way in which the funds are divided, the route of the transfer and the subsequent flow, in line with the wallet flow displayed by Dritan。

First “nomination” of judicial documents

Until May 11, 2026, the financial path of the chain was officially confirmed for the first time in a judicial document. On the same day, the indictment against Trenton Johnson was unsealed. He was charged with and faced up to 40 years ' imprisonment for participating in the 185 bitcoin theft。

In the indictment, one of the key conspirators was marked as “Co-Conspirator 1 (CC-1)”, and the chain analysis community has pointed this identity at Dritan Kapllani Jr. Although Dritan has not yet been formally charged, he has entered the “complicity structure” in the judicial narrative by deduced “associated addresses” from the chain。

In addition, the same document refers to another person involved, Memeco KOL yalotee, who was accused of assisting in money-laundering through his car rental operation in Miami and facing a maximum of 30 years' imprisonment。

At the age of 18, life is at its end

Prior to that, Dritan had a long and lavish life, frequently published content in Instagram and interacted with other hackers through Telegram. In the hacker circles, he was once thought to have some kind of “principal halo” - several associated groups around him (e.g. ACG, 41 / RM Boyz, etc.) were dealt with by law enforcement authorities, and he was never reached。

But as he reaches the age of 18, this halo ends, and past acts begin to be brought to justice。