ChainCatcher news, Hengnan Public Security has cracked a virtual currency theft case. It was found that the victim, Mr. Peng, found a virtual currency trading channel through social media. During a face-to-face cash transaction after purchasing virtual currency, he was secretly filmed by the criminal gang using a pinhole camera to capture his account login verification code. Subsequently, they used technical means to steal Mr. Peng's account and transfer his assets, ultimately leaving him with nothing. Mr. Peng suffered a total loss of 1.2 million yuan. Currently, 6 criminal suspects have been criminally detained by the public security authorities on suspicion of theft.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the hacker involved in the Bitfinex theft case has made a public statement for the first time since being arrested. Ilya Lichtenstein reiterated that he alone stole 120,000 bitcoins, denying the speculation in the Netflix documentary that "his father was complicit and may belong to a Russian spy agency." This is his first public statement since his arrest in 2022.In the video statement, Lichtenstein said, "My father is not a hacker; he doesn't even know how to use Instagram. I sincerely apologize to Bitfinex for all the pressure I have caused them. I know what I did was wrong, but I did it anyway. Looking back at who I was then, I hate myself. I hate myself. For the past three years, I have been working hard to trace all assets and return them down to the last satoshi as required by my plea agreement, and I will continue to do so."

ChainCatcher message, according to official news, the OKX Web3 security team conducted a sampling analysis of recent cases of private key theft on the Solana network and provided the following security recommendations:Upgrade devices and wallets to the latest version in a timely manner;It is recommended to regularly create new keys and promptly transfer assets to new addresses;Regularly use professional antivirus software to scan mobile devices and PCs;When downloading applications, be sure to verify whether they are official versions;When using Bot-type products, it is advisable to use a new wallet for risk isolation.It is reported that the OKX Web3 wallet team, while strengthening product technical protection, continues to promote user security education, covering security guidelines, security TVC, security dynamics, etc. Users who need more security advice can always pay attention to OKX's official security announcements and educational resources.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, U.S. prosecutors have recommended to the judge that Ilya Lichtenstein, the mastermind behind the largest cryptocurrency theft in history, should be sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in a money laundering scheme related to the $6 billion hack of the Bitfinex exchange in 2016. According to court documents revealed by the government on Tuesday, Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty last year, should serve more time than his rapper wife and accomplice Heather Morgan.Last week, prosecutors indicated that Morgan, the rapper who calls herself the "Wall Street Crocodile," should be sentenced to 18 months in prison. Prosecutors stated that Lichtenstein fits the profile of young cybercriminals whose online activities "have become somewhat normalized, thereby diminishing the impact on victims." Government lawyers told a federal judge in Washington, "A harsh sentence in this case will help break this cycle."Prosecutors did not seek the maximum sentence for Lichtenstein but considered his cooperation in other criminal cases. Earlier this year, he testified in the government's prosecution of the Bitcoin Fog mixing service money laundering case. Sentencing is scheduled for November.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio announced on Friday that the U.S. has filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit seeking to seize $200,000 worth of USDT.This action stems from an incident that occurred in February 2024, when $340,000 worth of Bitcoin was fraudulently transferred from a victim's wallet in Ohio.

ChainCatcher news, according to reports from the Hong Kong media, the Hong Kong police have announced a major theft case that occurred at a virtual currency exchange store in the Sham Shui Po district. A 43-year-old man was robbed while exchanging 4 million Hong Kong dollars in cash, and the police have arrested two men involved in the case.On the 25th and 26th, the police arrested two men holding Hong Kong identity cards, aged 23 and 30, respectively, on charges of "conspiracy to commit theft." They are suspected of colluding with a female store clerk and others to set up a virtual currency exchange store specifically to steal customers' cash transaction amounts. The 23-year-old suspect has been provisionally charged with "conspiracy to commit theft" and appeared in the West Kowloon Magistrates' Court on the morning of the 26th; the 30-year-old suspect is still under investigation.The police revealed that the involved exchange store had been operating for about a month and a half. The victim had previously conducted two successful transactions of approximately 400,000 and 800,000 Hong Kong dollars in early September, which may have been a trap set by the fraudsters to gain trust and lure the victim into increasing the investment to 4 million Hong Kong dollars. Notably, there have been 12 similar cases reported in the West Kowloon area in the first nine months of this year, with a total amount involved reaching 10.8 million Hong Kong dollars. In these cases, victims were either robbed or stolen from during cash transactions or did not receive the corresponding amounts after transferring cryptocurrency.

ChainCatcher news, on-chain detective ZachXBT posted on platform X, revealing a significant cryptocurrency asset theft case targeting Genesis creditors.On August 19, 2024, three hackers stole $243 million worth of cryptocurrency assets from a Genesis creditor through a highly sophisticated social engineering attack. According to ZachXBT's investigation, the attackers first impersonated Google customer service, deceiving the victim over the phone and successfully breaching their personal account. Subsequently, they posed as support staff from the Gemini exchange, claiming the account had been hacked, and tricked the victim into resetting two-factor authentication and transferring funds from their Gemini account to a controlled wallet. Finally, the hackers lured the victim into using AnyDesk remote desktop software to share their screen, thereby stealing the private keys to the Bitcoin Core wallet.ZachXBT confirmed three main suspects: Veer Chetal (alias Wiz), Malone Iam (alias Greavys), and Jeandiel Serrano (alias Box). Among them, Veer received the largest share of the loot, approximately $34.5 million. Malone lived a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles and Miami, spending between $250,000 and $500,000 daily, even gifting women Hermes handbags. Jeandiel was responsible for impersonating Gemini customer service to carry out the fraud.Currently, over $9 million in funds have been successfully frozen, with more than $500,000 returned to the victims. Malone and Jeandiel have been arrested in Miami and Los Angeles, respectively. Law enforcement expects to seize more funds during the arrests, as a significant amount of fund transfers were observed before and after the arrests.

ChainCatcher news, according to Xinhua News Agency, the Chongqing Public Security Bureau's Liangjiang New Area Branch successfully solved a virtual currency theft case involving approximately 400,000 yuan, arresting three criminal suspects. The case began at the end of June 2024 when the Tian Gong Dian Police Station of the Liangjiang New Area Branch received a report from a technology company in the jurisdiction, stating that over 2.6 million BLAST tokens (a type of virtual currency) had been stolen from the company's account. The police quickly identified and arrested the suspects Yang, Wu, and Sheng by analyzing the transaction paths and the flow of funds.Upon investigation, it was found that all three suspects were former employees of the technology company. They took advantage of their positions to implant malicious code into the company's computers, stealing the company's virtual wallet address and private key passwords. On the evening of June 26, after the company's virtual wallet received BLAST tokens distributed by the game officials, the suspects immediately transferred the tokens to a pre-prepared wallet, and then proceeded to cash out and divide the spoils. Currently, the three suspects have been lawfully approved for arrest by the procuratorial authorities on suspicion of theft, and the case is under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Bitfinex hack suspect Heather Morgan has appeared at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. Her attendance at several crypto events has sparked speculation within the crypto community.After pleading guilty on July 13, 2024, Morgan was aware that she could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Since then, she has been awaiting sentencing scheduled for November 8, 2024.Morgan's husband and criminal partner Ilya Lichtenstein is currently under house arrest, while Morgan remains out on bail.

ChainCatcher news, the People's Procuratorate of Xuhui District, Shanghai announced through its official public account that local police have cracked a case involving the illegal theft of virtual currency using backdoor programs. According to informed sources, during the investigation, Huobi HTX actively cooperated with Shanghai Public Security to gather evidence, using on-chain data to identify the criminals and assist the police in swiftly solving the case.In this case, the victim, Mr. Ou, had virtual currency worth millions of RMB stolen from a wallet software. Investigations revealed that four wallet developers had implanted backdoor programs in the wallet software used by Mr. Ou to obtain user private keys, mnemonic phrases, and other information, with one person stealing Mr. Ou's virtual currency.Ultimately, the Xuhui District People's Court sentenced the four defendants to fixed-term imprisonment and imposed fines for the crime of illegally obtaining data from computer information systems. The successful resolution of this case and the court's ruling indicate that the act of stealing others' virtual currency constitutes a crime, and the state not only protects virtual currency assets but also combats crimes that infringe upon virtual currency.

ChainCatcher news, according to CGTN Europe, court records show that a couple accused of a $4.5 billion cryptocurrency money laundering case related to the Bitfinex hack has reached a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, Wormhole was attacked in one of the largest cryptocurrency loss events of 2022. A total of approximately 120,000 ETH was stolen------worth $325 million at the time. According to blockchain analysis by Blockworks Research, these funds have now been recovered as of three days ago.Transaction history indicates that Jump Crypto and Oasis collaborated to attack the upgradable Oasis contract, retrieving the stolen funds from the original Wormhole Exploiter's vault. The sender deceived the Oasis contract, allowing it to transfer collateral and debt from the attacker's vault to its own vault. Oasis stated that it received an order from the High Court of England and Wales to recover certain assets related to the wallet addresses involved in the Wormhole exploit. This attack has sparked widespread discussion in the community. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, the blockchain security company Bit Jungle stated in a public account that on December 29, 2022, Bit Jungle assisted local police in successfully solving the case of stolen BXH digital assets. On September 21, 2022, the suspects Zhang, Hu, Sun, and Lin formed a gang in Zhengzhou and stole digital assets worth tens of millions of RMB by hacking into the BXH project server and implanting a Trojan.Now all four suspects have confessed, and some of the stolen digital assets have been returned. The police are continuing the interrogation and tracing of the stolen assets. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, a U.S. district court has signed a protective order regarding the Bitfinex theft case and the $4.5 billion cryptocurrency money laundering case, indicating that this case will involve classified national security information, which requires special security precautions for its storage, processing, and control according to laws or regulations, and access to this information requires a security clearance.The order designates Daniella Medel as the security officer for classified information in this case and appoints several alternate officers who can provide security arrangements. The order warns that unauthorized use or disclosure of classified information may violate criminal law. (Source link)

Chain Catcher news, the crypto financial service platform Amber Group tweeted that its team has successfully replicated the hacking technique used in the $160 million theft case of Wintermute. They can now reproduce the private key in less than 48 hours using a MacBook with an M1 processor and 16GB of memory. A complete article with relevant details will be published in the coming days.Chain Catcher previously reported that Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy tweeted on September 20 that Wintermute lost $160 million in a DeFi hacking attack, but its CeFi and OTC businesses are currently unaffected. The SlowMist security team analyzed that the reason for the theft may be that the stolen EOA wallet of Wintermute was created using Profanity to generate a vanity address (starting with 0x0000000). (Source link)