It's a record-breaking crime but losses from digital currencies are not unusual
When most investors think about the risk in holding cryptocurrencies, they are focusing on the price rollercoaster of the assets.
But, where there are things of value, there are criminals hoping to deprive rightful owners of their possessions – and cryptos are no different with some high-value thefts amounting to millions of dollars of digital assets.
Hamilton Police announced Wednesday that they have arrested a youth in connection with the theft of $46 million worth of cryptocurrency, the largest amount to be stolen from an individual person.
Officers also made multiple cryptocurrency seizures worth more than $7 million.
The victim of the theft was an individual in the United States who was targeted with a SIM-swap, a process whereby a cellular network employee is manipulated into issuing a duplicate SIM that criminals use to hijack a user’s accounts, despite them being ‘secured’ by two-factor authentication.
The joint investigation with the FBI revealed that some of the stolen cryptocurrency was used to purchase a rare gaming username, that led law enforcement to the alleged perpetrator.
A Hamilton youth was arrested for theft over $5,000.00 and possession of property or proceeds of property obtained by crime. This matter is before the courts.
How common are crypto crimes?
While this incident is notable for the size of the theft and the loss by one person, crime involving cryptocurrencies are not uncommon.
Earlier this year the US Federal Trade Commission reported that nearly 7,000 people in the US alone lost a combined $80 million between October 2020 and March 2021, not from theft but from investment scams.
This was a 1000% increase from a year earlier and was most prevalent among investors under 50.
The overall figures for theft of digital currencies by blockchain hackers is even more eyewatering.
In 2020, more than $3.8 billion was stolen according to data from analytics firm Slowmist Hacked reported by Atlas VPN. Hackers targeted individual crypto wallets, exchanges, and the blockchain itself.
Along with SIM swaps, fraudsters continue to use phishing techniques and ‘credential stuffing’ to gain access to users’ accounts and transfer assets or lock out legitimate users.
