FBI Arrests 20-Year-Old Singaporean for Stealing $230M in Bitcoin
Amidst all the events happening in Singapore like Solana Breakpoint and Token2049, a fellow Singaporean was charged with conspiracy to steal and launder over $230 million in cryptocurrency.
In an official statement by the US government, it is alleged that Malone Lam, 20, of Miami, Florida, along with his co-conspirators gained unauthorized access to a victim's account and transferred close to 4,100 Bitcoin, valued at $238 million, to their wallets.
By using cryptocurrency mixers and virtual private networks (VPN), they were able to conceal their identities.
According to the official statement, they also allegedly spent the laundered cryptocurrency proceeds on rental homes on global travel, nightlife venues, high-end cars, luxury timepieces, jewelry, designer bags, and rental properties in Los Angeles and Miami.
This attack was a "highly sophisticated social engineering attack" said ZachXBT, who helped to uncover the scam.
1/ An investigation into how Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) stole $243M from a single person last month in a highly sophisticated social engineering attack and my efforts which have helped lead to multiple arrests and millions frozen. pic.twitter.com/dcY1e9xsPd
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 19, 2024
In a detailed thread, ZachXBT outlined how the threat actors targeted a single Genesis creditor by impersonating a support staff from Gemini, asking the victim to reset two-factor authentication, and obtaining the private key to the wallet in the process.
On-chain analysis showed that the money was split before transferring to 15+ exchanges and exchanging stolen funds into Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero and laundered using Thorswap and exch.
According to ZachXBT, more than $9 million has been frozen, with $500,000 already recovered after collaborating closely with the victim as the investigation remains ongoing.