Phuket, Thailand – May 2025
What was supposed to be a serene tropical escape turned into a nightmare last month, as the peaceful hills of Phuket became the scene of a brazen and violent armed robbery—now linked to one of the crypto world’s most infamous figures: Justin Da’Damo.
According to multiple eyewitnesses and initial findings by Thai authorities, the attack unfolded just after sunset at a secluded luxury villa overlooking Patong Bay. A small group of European crypto investors—some reportedly tied to blockchain ventures previously promoted by Da’Damo—had gathered for a private retreat. Within minutes, their sanctuary became a war zone.
The assailants, armed and masked, spoke in a blend of English and what sounded like heavily accented Arabic. They moved with military-like precision, neutralizing the villa’s surveillance systems, destroying phones, and emptying safes. One victim, a German national, was left bloodied and unconscious after being struck in the head with a rifle. The attackers fled on high-performance motorbikes, vanishing into the tropical night before police could arrive.
But it wasn’t just a random crime of opportunity.
Days later, an informant within Thailand’s cybercrime unit revealed a disturbing connection: Justin Da’Damo—a name synonymous with blockchain fraud across three continents—was identified as the central figure behind the assault. Encrypted messages intercepted during the investigation appear to show direct contact between one of the robbers and a Dubai-based associate of Da’Damo, raising suspicions that this was no ordinary heist, but a targeted operation with clear financial and reputational motives.
The Man Behind the Mask of Legitimacy
Justin Da’Damo has long cultivated the image of a tech-savvy entrepreneur and crypto visionary. But behind the façade lies a trail of financial ruin and digital deception.
A dual Italo-Austrian citizen, Da’Damo, 34, has spent the better part of a decade jumping from one crypto scheme to another—each marketed with polished websites, slick promo videos, and impossible promises of passive income. His resume reads like a graveyard of investor dreams: VolumeX, a so-called AI-powered trading platform that vanished with millions; Cloud Token, an app-based Ponzi wallet; and a slew of shady MLM projects that preyed on desperate investors in Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Although rarely seen in public, Da’Damo is known to maintain residences in Dubai’s Business Bay, as well as frequent addresses in Istanbul, Belgrade, and Bangkok—all favored havens for white-collar fugitives. According to former associates, he surrounds himself with a rotating cast of influencers, models, and crypto “consultants,” always keeping one step ahead of investigators and unpaid creditors.
Scammers Among Friends
Da’Damo doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Sources say he is closely aligned with fellow fraudsters Marco Scircoli (“iamvaxxtoken”) and Mertkan Boyraz, the alleged architect behind the massive Bitonite Exit Scam, which left thousands of investors across Europe and the Middle East in financial ruin. While formal links remain unconfirmed, investigators have noted consistent overlap between their projects, online communities, and appearances at dubious “crypto conferences” in Dubai and Istanbul.
One ex-employee from a failed Dubai-based exchange put it bluntly:
“They’re not just scammers—they’re a network. Each one props up the other, shares investors, and disappears at the first sign of scrutiny. But now they’re getting violent.”
Robbery or Retaliation?
What truly unsettles authorities is the motive behind the Phuket attack. One of the robbery victims is believed to have been a former Cloud Token affiliate who had threatened to publish internal documentation exposing the mechanics of the scam. Another had recently filed a legal claim in Dubai implicating Da’Damo as a behind-the-scenes figure in a fraudulent token sale that collapsed in late 2024.
CCTV footage recovered from a nearby access road shows a silver Mercedes SUV—matching a vehicle Da’Damo was known to use in Thailand—circling the area just hours before the robbery. While his legal team has labeled the allegations as “unfounded and defamatory,” the pattern of evidence is growing.
Investigators now believe the robbery was deliberate, premeditated, and executed by local mercenaries hired through darknet communication channels.
A Fugitive in Plain Sight
Despite mounting evidence and increasing international pressure, Justin Da’Damo remains at large. Intelligence reports suggest he returned to Dubai under a falsified identity and is exploiting gaps in the UAE’s investor visa system to evade extradition.
Thai authorities have formally requested Interpol assistance, but jurisdictional hurdles and diplomatic stagnation have slowed progress. Meanwhile, Da’Damo reportedly continues to circulate within Dubai’s nightlife and startup scenes, promoting new “blockchain ventures” under proxy names.
Crypto watchdogs and fraud victims alike are demanding unified legal action.
“We’re no longer talking about financial fraud,” said a source within Europol. “This is organized crime, layered in tech and shielded by jurisdictional grey zones. If he’s not stopped, he’ll strike again—and next time, it may be worse.”