According to a July 4 CBC report, two Canadian teens have been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of $4.2 million in cryptocurrency.
Teenagers stole $4.2 million in BTC, ETH
The accused teens allegedly stole a significant amount of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) by posing as Coinbase support and gaining unauthorized access to a victim’s exchange account.
While the recent theft totaled $4 million, the teens reportedly controlled a total of $13.4 million in cryptocurrency.
Const. Krista-Lee Ernst, a police officer from Hamilton, Ontario, characterized the method used by the perpetrators as spear phishing. This technique involves targeting a specific individual and manipulating them into revealing their account information.
The teens’ identities remain a secret, but they are known to have used the pseudonyms “Felon” and “Gaze”. Some of the stolen money was reportedly used to buy a social media account, specifically the Instagram account ‘@zombie’.
The two teens have been arrested and charged with theft of more than $5,000 and possession of property or proceeds from crime.
Despite the case being reported by local Canadian police, major US criminal authorities played a major role in the investigation. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the U.S. Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF) initiated the investigation in June 2023, Ernst said. The victim of the theft is also said to be a US citizen.
Coinbase is often impersonated by scammers
Coinbase is often imitated by scammers due to its status as a major cryptocurrency exchange. The company acknowledged a widespread phishing attack in 2021 that stole the funds of 6,000 users between March and May. Coinbase promised to reimburse the losses incurred during this period.
In 2022, a group of investors filed a complaint against Coinbase, alleging that the company had not taken adequate steps to prevent scams.
Coinbase maintains a dedicated page to teach users how to identify and avoid phishing scams.
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