{"id":51670,"date":"2024-09-20T01:11:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T01:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/blockchain-detectives-feds-crack-230m-crypto-heist"},"modified":"2024-09-20T03:56:12","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T03:56:12","slug":"feds-end-bitcoin-bandits-luxury-life-fueled-by-230m-crypto-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670","title":{"rendered":"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

United States federal agents have arrested and indicted two men for stealing a whopping $230 million of Bitcoin from a Washington, DC resident, believed to be a creditor of Genesis.<\/p>\n

On Sept. 19, the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of Columbia reported that two young men, Malone Lam (20) and Jeandiel Serrano (21), were arrested and charged with conspiracy to steal and launder over 4,100 BTC worth $230 million at the time from an unnamed victim in the country\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

The pair used several online aliases and sophisticated methods to gain access to the victim\u2019s accounts, transfer funds, and launder the proceeds from at least August 2024.<\/p>\n

Lam and Serrano reportedly spent their ill-gotten gains on a lavish lifestyle, including international travel, nightclubs, luxury vehicles, watches, jewelry, designer handbags, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami.<\/p>\n

Stealing $230M in BTC from just one person<\/h2>\n

Blockchain sleuth \u201cZachXBT\u201d assisted law enforcement in what he described as a \u201chighly sophisticated social engineering attack\u201d in a post on X on Sept. 19. He also identified a third suspect, known by the alias \u201cWiz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Source: <\/em>ZachXBT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The onchain investigator elaborated that the scammers targeted a single Genesis creditor on Aug. 19.<\/p>\n

Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January 2023 following exposure to FTX and secured court approval to return $3 billion in cash and crypto to its creditors in May 2024.<\/p>\n

They called, posing as Google Support via a spoofed number to compromise the victim\u2019s personal accounts. They then called, posing as\u00a0Gemini\u00a0support, claiming the account had been hacked, and convinced the victim to reset two-factor authentication (2FA) before sending Gemini funds to a compromised wallet.<\/p>\n

They also got the victim to run screen-sharing software from which they obtained their Bitcoin private keys.<\/p>\n

An initial tracing showed as much as $243 million in crypto was split multiple ways between each party before funds \u201cquickly peeled off to more than 15 exchanges immediately swapping back and forth between Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Path of stolen crypto. Source: ZachXBT<\/em><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A follow-up investigation found that a cluster of Ethereum addresses linked to Serrano and \u2018Wiz\u2019 received over $41 million from two exchanges in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Related: <\/strong><\/em>Crypto scammers orchestrate massive hack on X but barely made $8K<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

ZachXBT said that with the assistance of crypto forensic investigators, Web3 security firm zeroShadow, and the Binance Security Team, \u201cmore than $9 million has been frozen, and $500,000 has already been returned back after working closely with the victim to investigate the incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Columbia DA\u2019s Office said that the investigation is ongoing with assistance from the FBI\u2019s Washington Field Office and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington Field Office.<\/p>\n

Magazine: <\/strong><\/em>Chinese Tether laundromat, Bhutan enjoys recent Bitcoin boost: Asia Express<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Check other news for today<\/span> and Please stand by..<\/p>\n

*********************************<\/p>\n

If one of the paying programs on our Monitor appeals to you, please support EmilyNews<\/em> by registering for it on our website. Thanks very very much!<\/p>\n

EN web Support Chat<\/strong> | Hyips and Crypto questions \u2013 HyipChatEN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Telegram Chat for Crypto and Hyip reports: @HyipChatEN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

*********************************<\/p>\n

Be the first to get most important HYIP news everyday!
\nSimply Follow EN Facebook<\/strong><\/a>, EN Telegram<\/strong><\/a>, EN Twitter<\/strong><\/a>
\nor Subscribe to EN Feedburner<\/a><\/strong> and submit your email address!<\/p>\n

If you like this article and want to support EN \u2013 please share it by using at least few of social media buttons below. Thanks and See you tomorrow!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States federal agents have arrested and indicted two men for stealing a whopping $230 million of Bitcoin from a Washington, DC resident, believed to be a creditor of Genesis. On Sept. 19, the US … Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5651],"tags":[139,3544,3812,6904,5652,6905,10,159,97,7009],"class_list":["post-51670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptonews","tag-bitcoin","tag-bitcoin-news","tag-cryptonews","tag-cryptoscams","tag-emilynews","tag-fraudcrypto","tag-hyip","tag-hyipnews","tag-hyips","tag-scam-money","exalt-entry"],"yoast_head":"\nFeds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam - EmilyNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam - EmilyNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"United States federal agents have arrested and indicted two men for stealing a whopping $230 million of Bitcoin from a Washington, DC resident, believed to be a creditor of Genesis. On Sept. 19, the US … Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scamRead more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EmilyNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-20T01:11:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-20T03:56:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"840\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"558\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Emilynews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Emilynews\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670\",\"name\":\"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam - EmilyNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-09-20T01:11:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-09-20T03:56:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d198218498e05856be72796eea940a33\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg\",\"width\":840,\"height\":558},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"EmilyNews\",\"description\":\"EmilyNews Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d198218498e05856be72796eea940a33\",\"name\":\"Emilynews\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/080b41979dac9ab029c0867a1655bdaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/080b41979dac9ab029c0867a1655bdaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Emilynews\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam - EmilyNews","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam - EmilyNews","og_description":"United States federal agents have arrested and indicted two men for stealing a whopping $230 million of Bitcoin from a Washington, DC resident, believed to be a creditor of Genesis. On Sept. 19, the US … Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scamRead more","og_url":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670","og_site_name":"EmilyNews","article_published_time":"2024-09-20T01:11:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-09-20T03:56:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":840,"height":558,"url":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Emilynews","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Emilynews","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670","url":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670","name":"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam - EmilyNews","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg","datePublished":"2024-09-20T01:11:00+00:00","dateModified":"2024-09-20T03:56:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d198218498e05856be72796eea940a33"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/btcms.jpg","width":840,"height":558},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?p=51670#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Feds end Bitcoin bandits\u2019 luxury life fueled by $230M crypto scam"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/","name":"EmilyNews","description":"EmilyNews Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d198218498e05856be72796eea940a33","name":"Emilynews","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/080b41979dac9ab029c0867a1655bdaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/080b41979dac9ab029c0867a1655bdaf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Emilynews"},"url":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51673,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51670\/revisions\/51673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilynews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}