A Hamilton, Ontario youth below the age of 18 has been arrested and charged for alleged involvement within the theft of $46 million value of cryptocurrency.
Hamilton Police say the sufferer was positioned in the US.
The arrest was the results of a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the US Secret Service Digital Crimes Activity Pressure that began in March 2020.
“The sufferer had been focused by a SIM swap assault, a method of hijacking useful accounts by manipulating mobile community staff to duplicate telephone numbers so risk actors can intercept two-factor authorization requests,” Hamilton Police allege in a news release.
“Because of the SIM swap assault, roughly $46 million CAD value of cryptocurrency was stolen from the sufferer. That is at the moment the most important cryptocurrency theft reported from one individual.”
Police say the alleged perpetrator was arrested for theft over $5,000.00 and possession of property or proceeds of property obtained by crime. It’s not clear if the youth has but been formally charged.
Police say a gaming username led to the arrest. “The joint investigation revealed that a few of the stolen cryptocurrency was used to buy a web based username that was thought of to be uncommon within the gaming neighborhood,” allege Hamilton Police.
“This transaction led investigators to uncover the account holder of the uncommon username.”
Hamilton Police says it seized $7 million value of cryptocurrency, and that the matter is now earlier than the courts.
Below the Youth Legal Justice Act, these below 18 years of age charged or convicted of against the law can’t be named.
Hamilton Police say it’s not in search of anybody else concerned within the alleged theft.
Jessy Bains is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Observe him on Twitter @jessysbains.
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