Teenager arrested in Canada for stealing $ 36 million worth of cryptocurrencies

Law enforcement agencies in Canada and the United States were able to uncover the largest theft of cryptocurrencies committed by one person in the United States.

In a joint investigation by Canadian law enforcement, the FBI, and the U.S. Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force in 2020,
identified suspected of stealing cryptocurrencies in the United States. The perpetrator was a teenager from Hamilton, Ontario.

The young man used SIM card manipulation and social engineering to duplicate phone numbers in order to intercept two-factor authentication. As a result of a cyberattack, he stole 46 million Canadian dollars ($ 36 million) worth of cryptocurrencies. The young man spent part of the stolen money to buy a rare name in a video game. This transaction allowed investigators to trace the owner of the account.

Now the teenager faces up to 10 years in prison for major theft of cryptocurrencies. Canadian authorities have already carried out several seizures of cryptocurrencies with an assessed value of over C $ 7 million (over $ 5.5 million).

With the development of the crypto industry, criminals are getting younger. An average student can steal millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies or compromise a company. In October, Lincolnshire County police confiscated 48 BTC and other crypto assets totaling over £ 2 million from a 17-year-old, accusing him of fraud and money laundering through cryptocurrencies. In the same month, a student stole $ 340,000 worth of ETH from the Creature Toadz project and returned it. Thus, the reputation of the Creature Toadz team suffered even before the launch of the platform due to a young cybercriminal who hacked the project’s Discord account.

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