Authorities have arrested two people in connection with an elaborate $243 million cryptocurrency heist aimed at Genesis creditors.
what happenedThe arrests came after an extensive investigation into a social engineering scheme carried out by a group of cybercriminals, including unauthorized access to personal accounts and exploitation of cryptocurrency platforms.
On-Chain Investigator Zack XBT The company said the crime, which occurred on August 19, began when attackers used a fake phone number to pose as Google support and gain access to the victim's personal account.
They then made a second call posing as Gemini support and claiming that the victim's account had been compromised.
Attackers used these social engineering tactics to convince victims to reset their two-factor authentication (2FA) and transfer funds to compromised wallets.
The hackers also gained access to the victims' private keys. AnyDeskRemote desktop tools.
Once they had control of the funds, the cybercriminals quickly moved the $243 million into multiple wallets and distributed it to multiple individuals involved in the scheme.
According to ZachXBT's investigation, the stolen funds were moved between various cryptocurrencies, including: Bitcoin BTC/USD, Litecoin LTC/USD, Ethereum ETH/USD and Monero XMR/USDThrough at least 15 different exchanges.
Those identified as key players in the crime are: Gravy (Malone I Am) With (Vir Chettal), and box (Jandiel Serrano) played a unique role in this operation.
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Notably, With accidentally let slip his full name during a screen-sharing session, helping investigators confirm his identity.
Posing as a representative of the Gemini exchange, Box also left behind traces linking him to the stolen funds through reused profile photos and wallet addresses.
Authorities were able to track the criminals' movements thanks to open source intelligence (OSINT), and Gravies was flaunting his newfound wealth on social media.
His lavish lifestyle, which included spending between $250,000 and $500,000 a night at clubs and gifting women with luxury Birkin bags, contributed to his eventual arrest.
As a result of an investigation conducted jointly by Binance Security, CFInvestigators and zeroshadow_io, over $9 million in stolen funds have been frozen.
Additionally, $500,000 has already been repaid to victims.
The effort resulted in the arrests of both Box and Graves in Miami and Los Angeles.
What's next: As such incidents continue to rise, Benzinga’s “Future of Digital Assets” event on Nov. 19 will likely center around discussions of improving cybersecurity and regulatory preparedness in the digital asset space.
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