Cybercriminals Busted For $243M Crypto Heist: They Spent Hundreds Of Thousands In Night Clubs And On Luxury Gifts
By Benzinga
Authorities have arrested two individuals involved in a sophisticated $243 million cryptocurrency heist targeting a Genesis creditor.
What Happened: The arrests were made after an intensive investigation into a social engineering scheme carried out by a group of cybercriminals, which included compromising personal accounts and exploiting cryptocurrency platforms.
Onchain investigator ZachXBT said the crime, which occurred on Aug. 19, began when the attackers impersonated Google Support via a spoofed phone number to gain access to the victim’s personal accounts.
They followed up with a second call pretending to be Gemini support, claiming the victim’s account was compromised.
Using these social engineering tactics, the attackers convinced the victim to reset their two-factor authentication (2FA) and transfer funds to a compromised wallet.
The hackers also gained access to the victim’s private keys via AnyDesk, a remote desktop tool.
Once in control of the funds, the cybercriminals swiftly moved $243 million across multiple wallets, splitting it between several individuals involved in the scheme.
According to ZachXBT’s investigation, the stolen funds were transferred between various cryptocurrencies—including Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Litecoin (CRYPTO: LTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) and Monero (CRYPTO: XMR)—through at least 15 different exchanges.
Key figures in the crime, identified as Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano), played distinct roles in the operation.
Also Read: Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs See Over $50M Net Outflows Despite Fed’s 50 Bps Rate Cut
Notably, Wiz accidentally leaked his full name during a screen-sharing session, helping investigators to confirm his identity.
Box, who posed as a representative from the Gemini exchange, also left a trail linking him to the stolen funds through reused profile pictures and wallet addresses.
Authorities were able to track the criminals’ movements thanks to open-source intelligence (OSINT), with Greavys flaunting his newly acquired wealth on social media.
His lavish lifestyle, which included spending $250,000 to $500,000 a night in clubs and gifting luxury Birkin bags, contributed to his eventual capture.
The investigation, which involved collaboration between Binance Security, CFInvestigators and zeroshadow_io, resulted in the freezing of more than $9 million in stolen funds.
Additionally, $500,000 has already been returned to the victim.
The efforts culminated in the arrests of both Box and Greavys in Miami and Los Angeles.
What’s Next: As incidents like this become more prevalent, discussions about improving cybersecurity and regulatory measures in the digital asset space will likely take center stage at Benzinga’s Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19.
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Image: Shutterstock
