**Disclaimer**

This piece is written solely for sharing the of the facts. Names have been changed to protect the persons involved. All portions contained therein are reported as told to the author, and while having been fact checked and verified, does by no means give anyone the right to harass, stalk, DoX nor give anyone permission to engage in any form of activity that goes against Upland's TOS. 

 

ItchyBoils 

  He blew into Upland, hot, and foul, like the acrid scent of sunbaked roadkill, rancid, aggressive, covered in the filth of maggots, that makes your nostrils flare, eyes water, and stomach roil. He sailed through visitor and uplander status like a snake slithers through mud. And in the blink of his reptilian like eyes, he achieved director. We don't know how he heard about SwapSpace, but make no mistake, his joining was to serve one purpose, and one alone; satisfying his greed. 

Five days before the heist of the El Camino Collection, he joined the swap server. While we know little about how he came to be there, evidence will show later, he had malice on his mind. With the tier system in place, obviously this heist wasn't going to happen overnight, but a devious mind is cunning; he began looking for a collection target to lock onto. 

  As with all newcomers to the server, he had to build his rep, to earn the trust of "rare swappers".  Now many new swappers, will try to bang out as many swaps as they can, to build upx, and rep, but that aside, you still have to spend X amount of time in the server. This was put into place specifically to try and prevent swap heists.

SwapServer Tier rules:

"Newcomer: 0
The new player will join the server, and be a member for one week before advancing to tier
Tier 1, the player has completed the first week of active status in the server.
Tier 2, the player has completed requirements for tier 1, and has successfully swapped at least 40+ standard/limited collections.
Tier 3, the highest tier, the player has completed requirements for tier 2, and has also completed at least 44+ exclusive/rare collections. 

Newcomers generally won't be able to swap, Rare or Ultra Rare collections, as more time and reputation need to be built. The exception to this is if they know a person IRL with an ultra Rare Collection and or, are Executive status in Upland. "

  Once he joined the server, ItchyBoils swapped, as many collections as he could, as often as possible and people were starting to vouch for his reputation, as he continued to bide his time. His greed simmering like a pot of gruel, slopping its congealed grey matter all over a cooktop stove, he began DMing Rare swappers with fervor. If he could get one on the hook, his mission would blossom like the deadly Oleander, the Upland skies would open and upx would shower down on him like acid rain. 

  During this time of non-stop swapping, and rare swapper trolling, he reached out to SourRings, and though he "seemed like a nice enough guy, I waited like I normally do with new members, and told him to try again in a few days." Target Acquired! 

March 24th 2022

  The day dawned I'm sure like any other day. Not much was going on in the metaverse, though famine in the form of properties sold, still seemed to be a thing. The anticipation of the next city, Queens, was very much in the forefront of everyone's mind, and the push to have enough upx (but can you ever really?) to mint there, was reaching a fevered pitch. "Wen Queens" was the daily cry from the salivating members of the metaverse, dying to finally have a stake in the elusive, highly coveted, ever insanely priced, state of New York, and the race was in full swing. 

  But for, ItchyBoils, today was the day, he was going to pull it off, if he could get SourRings to trust him, he'd been working on it five days, with his swapping, reputation building, was but a mere two days away from Tier 1, he stalked his prey, like a panther, stalking from within the brush, crouched on his haunches, he struck, approaching SourRings again, to swap with him. SourRings checked the feedback, saw the numerous collections he'd swapped, and because they were in the same time zone, "which is hard to find if you live outside the US"  decided to go ahead with the request. He started with his lower standard and limited collections, and because, "I was busy that day, not sure I even said a full sentence to him, I asked him to agree to my terms, ' 50/50 split on all the rewards, and all properties return to original owners at the end?' and once he agreed I started sending him collections. He knew how to swap. El Camino was about number... 10-15 in the collections I sent him? So we had been swapping for about an hour and a half. He did not ever send to the next collection. After about, 45 mins, he blocked my discord. We have not spoken sense (sic). I didn't try to reach back out after that even though I knew what his new discord was. It is a small community." 

  ItchyBoils had done it! Pulled off the heist, the collection was his. And now the serpent begin slithering in the grass, to his promised land. All his wildest dreams about to come true! Riches in Upland!!!

While SourRings was making it known that the collection was probably stolen. Those in the swapping community were all still hoping it was one of those strange circumstances in which a player is called to real life, such as an emergency, or perhaps had fallen asleep, the blocking on Discord made it seem that this was a less likely scenario, but, there is always a spark of hope, until there isn't. In this case, the spark snuffed out quickly. 

The Aftermath

  Over the next several weeks, ItchyBoils was all but counting his upx, as he listed the collection for sale over and over, only to have his treachery revealed in public with every attempt. His greed all but consumed him, and almost immediately he wasn't content with his ill gotten gains.
"He stole a primarily dividend paying collection, but was quickly discontent at the amount of upx being given out by those dividends. Within a couple weeks he was trying to sell it for outrageous prices which he couldn't get. At the end of the day, he showed, (through his trying to sell it and his negotiating of what he thought it was worth,) how much of a noob he really was. Morally he decided he could steal from the rich and that is okay (this is my paraphrase quoting him). And he quickly became discontent in his greed."

Posts of the collection being stolen, his name, his aliases (as he was changing his name in discord, faster than seasoned treasure hunters can jump to an exclusive chest in riot mode), plastered over all the servers, on blast, forever branded as a thief. Everyone watching every move he made. Many community members, took it upon themselves to deep dive into just where this leprous letch came from, and oh the dirt you can move, if you dig deep enough. Turns out, while ItchyBoils was trying to wheel and deal on his hot new stolen collection, SourRings and others, had found out a lot about him.  
"He had been posting about wanting to buy a collection that paid out 10k a month in upx. Then he stole mine which was paying out 30k per month. But within 5 days it wasn't enough. It was what he thought he wanted, but he soon was posting that he was looking for a collection that paid out 100k per month. Now, how he planned to actually get that, if someone approached him, I have no idea. But it showed how he stole, thinking it would make him successful, and it didn't. It only showed what a low-life he was. He led to more discontentment. So now his goal grew significantly larger and faster than it should have because, he cheated on his first goal (by stealing). 100k a month is pretty unobtainable at his level without a significant amount of work." 

Queens Release, The Retrieval of a stolen Collection

  The day of the Queens release, was finally upon the metaverse. BEs descended on the east coast, like plague locusts ready to feast. Discord was lit up like the fourth of July, it was time! Oh, but not for ItchyBoils, his net worth, while higher due to the El Camino collection, but,  his upx on hand was paltry at best; with under 5k upx to his name, to spend on the very last of the five boroughs. In what can only be described as a last ditch act of desperation the El Camino collection went up for sale, fifteen minutes before the Queens release, for just 2 million upx! 

 SourRings, ever diligent in checking on his collection, saw the sale prices, and the internal struggle began! When asked about that struggle SourRings had this to say, "It was still paying 2m for something I had stolen from me, and the worst part of it was knowing he would get to participate in the Queens release because he sold them, meaning he would get to have "fun" which is a reward for stealing. I almost did not buy them back because, otherwise he would have had to sit out in the Queens release. The price I got them back for was a no brainer purchase price for their value. If I removed my emotions from the theft and rewarding his thievery, would this purchase make sense for me for my future goals. So while having the emotions and wanting him to be punished, setting those aside, the purchase made sense."  

The El Camino Collection was finally back in the hands of its rightful owner. 

After the Aftermath

  With the return of the collection, no doubt SourRings, felt he could recoup his losses through swapping, and that would mostly certainly make the 2 million upx seem a less bitter pill to swallow, to some extent. Interestingly, less than a week after getting it back, Upland shadow banned swapping through timers introduced into the game, in which a player must wait a determined amount of time, to collect the bonus from completed collections they either mint, swap or purchase. Yet, even if he had known this change was coming SourRings still would have purchased his prize collection back. He remains a continued supporter of swapping, and feels that it did serve its purpose in the game. 

  ItchyBoils surely seems to have enjoyed his Queens release. Having spent all of the upx from the purchase of his stolen collection, and of this writing, his upx stands at just 28k. His presence in Queens making up more than half of his owned properties. His highest collections are limited collections. But he wears the permanent brand of a thief, his reputation, and name soured within the Upland Discord community, his trust destroyed. He'll be left to wander the metaverse, labeled and watched closely by those who feel that "he is known only as thief now that is still discontent with a completely unrealistic and unobtainable goal. Expectation is he will quit and be gone within another month or so." 

 

Conclusion
This writer witnessed ItchyBoils in a server channel, he in fact replied to a comment I'd made. It was directly hinted, but another user, that he should return the upx he'd received for the stolen collection. No reply was ever made, no upx returned, no apology to SourRings ever issued. But I guess you'd have to have a conscious for all of that. 

But rest assured, if he does stick around, someone as nefarious as this, will be looking for his next heist.