Police in Canada have arrested a teenage thief for reportedly stealing $37 million in crypto-currencies ($46 million Canadian) through a SIM swap scheme, making it the greatest single-person virtual cash robbery ever.
According to CTV News, officials described it as the greatest crypto-currency scam involving a single person in Canadian history. The police did not release the suspect’s age; however, police said he is from Hamilton, Ontario. The teenager is male, and police arrested him in the middle of last year. The probe involved The FBI and the US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force .
The cross-border security agencies initiated a joint investigation into the hacking of a US resident’s mobile phone account. The collaborative team launched the investigation last year in March.
Sim Swap
The victim was the victim of a SIM swap attack. The criminal hacked their phone number and moved to the attacker’s phone. The criminal, therefore, used two-factor authentication requests to access personal accounts and obtain information on the victim’s Bitcoin wallet.
In a statement by the police claims that; ” the teen used part of the stolen Bitcoin to purchase an online username that was regarded to be unusual in the gaming community.” “As a result of this transaction, detectives were able to identify the account holder of the uncommon username.”
“This transaction led investigators to uncover the account holder of the rare username,” it confirmed
The adolescent was charged with theft as well as possession of the stolen property. So far, the case has resulted in the seizure of nearly $5.5 million in crypto-currency.
According to CTV News, police advised attention to the protection of all types of currencies. According to Detective Constable Kenneth Kirkpatrick, “You’re clearly not secure” if you have 15 accounts with the same password”. “It’s critical to have distinct passwords for each different account.” He believes that multifactor authentication will continue to be important in securing data and money.
More Crypo Crime
Meanwhile, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and the Department of Justice will begin selling $56 million in cryptocurrencies to liquidate assets from a phony cryptocurrency firm suspected of running a Ponzi-like scheme.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued BitConnect, its founder Satish Kumbhani, 35, and chief promoter Glenn Arcaro, 44, for misrepresenting investors about an automated cryptocurrency trading bot. They also offered the couple $2 billion worth of Bitcoin in exchange for promises of up to 40% profit returns.
The digital currency was allegedly transferred into the personal accounts of Kumbhani and Arcaro rather than being exchanged. On September 1, Arcaro pled guilty to conspiring to defraud Bitconnect investors and relinquished his assets.
The Department of Justice and the US Attorney’s Office will now begin selling his Bitcoin. It’s the government’s most significant single recovery from a crypto-currency fraud prosecution to date. They will use the funds to compensate duped investors.
“With entry of the court’s interlocutory sale order, the government will begin the process of seeking to make whole victims of the BitConnect scheme by selling the crypto-currency and holding the proceeds in US dollars,” the DoJ confirmed this week.
“The government will maintain custody of the seized proceeds in crypto-currency wallets and intends to use these funds to provide restitution to the victims pursuant to a future restitution order by the court at sentencing.”