Cryptos: millions of dollars stolen by two Canadian teenagers

Despite its many challenges, the crypto market remains particularly attractive. Many get into it with the goal of making honest money. But there are those who choose the easy way, often more profitable, but with serious legal consequences.

Two Canadian teenagers steal $4 million in crypto

It’s an open secret: the crypto industry is infested with bad actors. Lately, US victim robbed of $4 million in cryptocurrencies by young Canadian criminals.

The precise details of the identity of the victim and the offenders have not been revealed. However, we know that they are teenagers. To carry out their stunt, they falsely presented themselves as representatives of Coinbase based in Canada.

Thus, by exploiting their false identity, they managed to manipulate the victim into providing them with the access keys to his crypto wallet. This wallet held a substantial amount of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

The duo, identified under the pseudonyms “Felon” and “Gaze”, controlled a total of $13.4 million. This, thanks to “spear phishing”. A form of scam that involves manipulating an individual into handing over their crypto account details.

Data from the investigations reveal that part of the stolen funds were used to purchase the Instagram account @zombie. Investigators also found more than $5,000 in cash as well as various possessions related to the thefts.

For the time being, no information has filtered as to the fate of the two accused teenagers. An operational success attributed to the expertise of the American secret services, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Electronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF).

However, this incident exposes Coinbase’s security vulnerability. In 2021, the company admitted to being the target of several spear phishing attacks, compromising the funds of 6,000 users.

The company is certainly committed to reimbursing them. But if the problem persists, it might be time for it to do more to strengthen the security of its operations, from a technical and procedural point of view, among others.