Crypto Scammers Steal $243,709,068.03 from Literally One Guy

If you’re the type to consider cryptocurrency a scam in and of itself, then this story will be a Russian nesting doll of scams within scams. A recent investigation has uncovered a crypto heist of $243 million worth of digital currency from one guy. 

On August 19, a creditor to the now-defunct trading firm called Genesis fell victim to a complex social engineering attack orchestrated by a few cybercriminals posing as Google support technicians. Two people have since been arrested, one in Miami and one in Los Angeles. 

A prolific crypto sleuth known as ZachXBT identified the scammers in a thread on X as Malone Iam, Veer Chetal, and Jeandiel Serrano. They allegedly manipulated the victim into providing them their sensitive private information, including their private keys to their Bitcoin wallet, so they could reset the victim’s two-factor authentication and transfer their funds. 

The scam was wildly successful as the trio was able to steal 4,064 Bitcoin valued at around $243 million. The stolen Bitcoin was then stashed among 15 cryptocurrency exchanges and laundered through several other cryptocurrencies like Monero, Ethereum, and Litecoin in an attempt to muddy any efforts to trace the coins.

Leave a Comment