Amid events like Solana Breakpoint and Token2049, 20-year-old Singaporean Malone Lam was charged with conspiring to steal over $230 million in Bitcoin Theft.
In Singapore, a fellow Singaporean was charged with conspiracy to steal and launder over $230 million in cryptocurrency amidst the events of Solana Breakpoint and Token2049.
The United States government has issued an official statement alleging that Malone Lam, 20, of Miami, Florida, and his co-conspirators obtained unauthorized access to a victim’s account and transferred nearly 4,100 Bitcoin, which is valued at $238 million, to their corresponding wallets.
They could conceal their identities using virtual private networks (VPN) and cryptocurrency mixers.
According to the official statement, the laundered cryptocurrency proceeds were also purportedly allocated to rental properties in Los Angeles and Miami, high-end vehicles, luxury timepieces, jewelry, and designer bags, as well as to global travel and nightlife venues.
ZachXBT, who assisted in the discovery of the fraud, described this attack as “highly sophisticated social engineering.”
The threat actors targeted a single Genesis creditor by impersonating a support staff from Gemini, requesting the victim to reset two-factor authentication, and obtaining the private key to the wallet in the process, as ZachXBT detailed in a detailed thread.
The on-chain analysis revealed that the funds were divided before being transferred to over 15 exchanges and exchanged for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero. The funds were then laundered using Thorswap and exch.
