A Canadian teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing $37 million worth of cryptocurrency ($46M Canadian) via a SIM swap scam, making it the largest virtual cash heist affecting a single person yet, according to police.
Together with the FBI and the US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, Hamilton Police in the Canadian province of Ontario launched a joint probe to investigate the breach of a US resident’s mobile phone account.
The victim was reportedly targeted with a SIM swap attack – their phone number was hijacked and ported to a different phone belonging to the attacker. The miscreant was then able to enter personal accounts via two-factor authentication requests and obtain details of the victim’s cryptocurrency wallet. From there, millions of dollars were siphoned off, it’s claimed.
“The joint investigation revealed that some of the stolen cryptocurrency was used to purchase an online username that was considered to be rare in the gaming community,” according to a statement from Hamilton Police.
“This transaction led investigators to uncover the account holder of the rare username,” it confirmed.
The teen was arrested for theft and possession of property. Police have seized over $5.5 million worth of cryptocurrencies in the case so far.
Source: Canadian teen arrested for stealing $36.5m of cryptocurrency • The Register
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