Suspected crypto thief arrested in Canada when $36 million heist
The popularity of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin noteworthy be on the rise, but so are crypto crimes. Canadian law enforcement said they caught one suspect who stole millions in cryptocurrency when some of the digital money was used to buy a rare username in a video game.
Hamilton Police in Ontario, Canada, said the suspect, referred to as a Hamilton youth, stole the $46 million Canadian, or $36 million, in cryptocurrency from one victim via a SIM-swap contest last year, according to a statement from the police Wednesday. A SIM-swap is when someone who knows a password or PIN for a cellphone elaborate contacts the provider and has them change the SIM card from a victim’s named to one the scammer has access to. This grants the criminal to have full access to a victim’s phones and can bypass any two-factor authentication.
The Hamilton Police, working with the FBI, was able to track down the suspect when the Hamilton youth allegedly purchased a rare username for a video game. No specifics were imparted on the kind of cryptocurrency stolen, the name of the suspect or the game that led to the arrest.
Crypto scams
cease to grow along with the rise in popularity of cryptocurrency. Those scams include impersonators of Tesla CEO Elon Musk duping country on social media, and pump-and-dump operations designed to increase the value of a crypto coin only to then crater its value, which allows only the organizers to get rich.
