Suspects in $230 million bitcoin social engineering scheme arrested
US authorities have arrested two suspects, charging them with conspiracy to steal and launder over $230 million in bitcoin (BTC) from a victim in Washington, DC.
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US authorities have arrested two suspects, charging them with conspiracy to steal and launder over $230 million in bitcoin (BTC) from a victim in Washington, DC.
The suspects, Malone Lam, 20, a citizen of Singapore known online as “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$”, and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, a.k.a. “VersaceGod” and “@SkidStar”, also appeared in court yesterday, according to the announcement.
It added that, since at least August 2024, the arrested suspects and unidentified "others" conspired to carry out cryptocurrency thefts and launder the stolen funds through exchanges and mixing services. The stolen funds were allegedly spent on international travel, nightclubs, luxury automobiles, watches, jewelry, designer handbags, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
Meanwhile, pseudonymous blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who assisted in the investigation, said that alongside Serrano and Lam, there was a third individual, Veer Chetal (Wiz). According to the analyst, on August 19th, the group stole 4064 BTC, now worth $258 million, "in a highly sophisticated social engineering attack."
ZachXBT explained that they called pretending to be from Google Support via a spoofed number to compromise personal accounts. They then contacted the victim as Gemini crypto exchange’s support, claiming the victim's account had been hacked. Then, they allegedly convinced the victim to reset his 2FA and transfer funds from Gemini to a compromised wallet. Later, they allegedly got the victim to use AnyDesk, a remote desktop application, to share his screen, which allowed them to obtain the private keys to the victim’s BTC.
3/ Here is a private video recording showing the live reaction by multiple of the threat actors to receiving $238M.
undefined ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 19, 2024
Theft txn hash
4064 BTC - Aug 19 at 4:05 am UTC
4b277ba298830ea538086114803b9487558bb093b5083e383e94db687fbe9090 pic.twitter.com/djSxBTkOF8
Soon after, according to the investigator, the funds were sent to more than 15 exchanges and swapped back and forth between bitcoin, litecoin (LTC), ethereum (ETH), and monero (XMR). During the screenshare, Veer’s full name reportedly slipped out, revealing his identity, ZachXBT added.
"Greavys (Malone) lives a flashy lifestyle with the stolen funds, having purchased 10+ cars and going out to clubs in LA and Miami, spending $250K-500K per night and giving out Birkin bags to girls," the sleuth said, adding that Greavys was located because friends posted his location on social media. Lam's own Instagram account also helped authorities track him down.
The investigator claims that more than $9 million has been frozen, and $500,000 has already been returned to the victim. Additionally, more funds may have been seized during the arrests.