Two 17-year-old boys from Hamilton, Canada, have been arrested and charged after defrauding an American man of $4.2 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum in a spear-phishing attack. The two boys had posed as support staff of the Coinbase exchange to steal their victim’s portfolio of digital currencies. Targeted phishing is a type of phishing attack that is more sophisticated than traditional phishing attacks. Targeted phishing attacks are more personal and target specific people who appear to be high-value targets.
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In this case, the perpetrators pretended to be a supporter of Coinbase and used social engineering techniques to trick the victim into revealing sensitive information such as login information and other personal details. With this information, they were able to access the victim’s cryptocurrency assets and transfer the funds to their wallet.
According to reports, some of the stolen funds were used to purchase the Instagram username “@Zombie,” a username in demand among gamers. The teenagers also used the nicknames “Gaze” and “Felon”. An investigation into the attack was launched in June by the FBI and the US Secret Service’s Electronic Crimes Task Force. When the boys were arrested, they had $13.4 million in cryptocurrency.
This shows the need for vigilance during online activities and the risk of impersonation and phishing attacks in the cryptocurrency space. As digital currencies grow in popularity, cybercriminals are increasingly targeting individuals and businesses.
Recently, interagency cooperation has begun to tackle the growing problem of crimes related to the cryptocurrency market. In February, the FBI created a virtual asset exploitation unit to work with the Justice Department’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which was established in 2021 to focus on cryptocurrency-related crimes.
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