ZachXBT announced today that he and several collaborators froze some of the Bitcoin stolen in a recent $330 million theft. He named two potential suspects, but the investigation is still ongoing.
Several strange details exist in this case. For example, the target was an elderly whale active on multiple exchanges who acquired their assets through “interesting” methods. ZachXBT has not elaborated on this topic further.
ZachXBT Tracks Theft of Elderly Victim
ZachXBT, one of the crypto industry’s most prominent sleuths, made substantial progress on this case in just a few days. The theft first occurred on April 28, and he has made consistent updates since it first took place.
As of today, ZachXBT and other volunteer investigators have frozen $7 million from the theft, but over $300 million remains unaccounted for.
“So far, $7 million+ has been frozen with the help of CF Investigators, tanuki42_, Binance’s Security team, and myself. Two suspects in the $330 million heist include ‘Nina/Mo’ a Somalian who operates a call scam centre in Camden, UK, and an accomplice ‘W0rk’ who assisted with the site/call. They have since deleted social media accounts,” he stated.
Apparently, the target was an elderly individual in the United States. ZachXBT claimed that the theft used social engineering tactics, thus making many security measures worthless.
After the crime, the culprits used Monero to quickly launder stolen funds. This created enough trade volume that it temporarily moved the asset’s price.
Unfortunately, there are still many unanswered questions related to this attack. ZachXBT didn’t release many details about the victim but noted that they were a longtime holder, active on multiple exchanges before the theft.
He further claimed that the $330 million came from “interesting” sources but that he might never provide additional details.
ZachXBT didn’t describe the theft investigators’ distinct roles in the operation, but Binance’s direct participation seems noteworthy. He noted that the victim’s information was likely obtained from private data leaks.
Last month, unrelated attackers used this same method to systematically target Binance’s own user base.
Hopefully, more details about the incident will unfold in the coming days, potentially preventing future incidents. For the crypto industry, an elderly whale losing over $300 million to one theft is an unusual tragedy indeed.
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