Genesis

Litecoin

Monero

ZachXBT

Security

Los Angeles law enforcement arrested at least two persons involved in a $243 million social engineering attack launched against a lone Genesis creditor.
In August, three scammers, identified as Malone Iam, Veer Chetal, and Jeandiel Serrano, <a href="https://x.com/zachxbt/status/1836752923830702392" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">swindled</a> a single Genesis Global creditor of nearly $250 million by impersonating a Gemini customer support agent. The investigation, spearheaded by crypto sleuth ZachXBT, revealed multiple videos of the trio sharing the loot and expressing euphoria over the successful theft.
In a video gathered by the online sleuth, one of the perpetrators shrieked, “I’m gonna spazz,” after the group received some 4,064 Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) from the deceived Genesis claimant. With the help of other bad actors, the funds were split across over a dozen exchanges and on-chain trading venues, such as Binance, eXch, and Thorswap.
You might also like: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/russian-man-faces-treason-charges-over-crypto-transfers-to-ukraine/"> Russian man faces treason charges over crypto transfers to Ukraine </a>
The hackers also swapped the stolen wealth between Bitcoin, Litecoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/litecoin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LTC</a>), Ethereum (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>), and Monero (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/monero/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">XMR</a>) to obfuscate their digital footprint. After the heist, members of the hacker trio went on a spending spree, splurging in Los Angeles clubs and buying luxury cars in Miami.
ZachXBT, together with blockchain forensic specialists CF Investigators and ZeroShadow, petitioned the Binance Security Team for aid, leading to $9 million in stolen assets being frozen.
The victim also recovered around $500,000 and worked closely with experts in the investigation, ZachXBT said in a Sept. 19 X thread. Iam and Serrano, two-thirds of the original scammer trio, were arrested in LA on Sept. 18.
According to ZachXBT, large on-chain transactions during the arrests suggest that local police seized more funds from the suspects. At press time, the whereabouts of Chetal, the group’s final member not yet arrested, remained unknown.
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter">
 <div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
 <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
 1/ An investigation into how Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) stole $243M from a single person last month in a highly sophisticated social engineering attack and my efforts which have helped lead to multiple arrests and millions frozen. <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://t.co/dcY1e9xsPd" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/dcY1e9xsPd</a>— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) <a href="https://twitter.com/zachxbt/status/1836752923830702392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">September 19, 2024</a>
 </blockquote>
 <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 </div>
</figure>
Genesis, a Digital Currency Group subsidiary, <a href="https://crypto.news/genesis-concludes-bankruptcy-with-4b-creditor-payout/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">owed</a> $4 billion to 100,000 creditors, with about $10 billion in liabilities. The crypto lender was one of several businesses caught in the debacle involving FTX and Three Arrows Capital, fallen crypto giants that collapsed after Do Kwon’s Terraform blockchain ecosystem imploded.
Read more: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://crypto.news/200m-in-crypto-liquidated-following-50bps-fed-rate-cut/"> $200m in crypto liquidated following 50bps Fed rate cut </a>

Miami police arrest crypto scammers behind $243m theft

crypto.news

Other articles published on Sep 19, 2024

Arthur Hayes Criticizes FED’s Rate Cut, Points to Friday for Bitcoin Reaction

Forge Celebrates Major Milestone with 1 Million Players and Exciting New Web3 Partnerships

Vega Protocol to Wind Down Vega Blockchain Operations, New Project Underway

DeltaPrime DeFi Protocol Lost $5.9M in Ongoing Exploit: Report

SEC and Rari Capital Agree to Settlement in Misleading Investor Case

Hamster Kombat September 19: Daily Combo Card and Cipher Code

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!