ChainCatcher news, according to News.bitcoin, the latest TRM cryptocurrency crime report shows that in the first half of 2025, cryptocurrency theft cases surged, with at least 75 attacks resulting in over $2.1 billion stolen, nearly matching the total for 2024 and exceeding the record set in the first half of 2022. However, the report indicates that the $1.5 billion Bybit hack that occurred in February accounted for nearly 70% of the total losses. Aside from the massive losses in February, January, April, May, and June were the only four months with losses exceeding $100 million. Only March had losses below $100 million.The report concluded: "In the first half of 2025, crimes committed by groups linked to North Korea accounted for $1.6 billion of the stolen funds, approximately 70% of all stolen funds." Meanwhile, the TRM team found that in the first half of 2025, infrastructure attacks such as private key and mnemonic phrase theft or front-end intrusions accounted for over 80% of the stolen funds. On the other hand, protocol vulnerabilities accounted for 12%, highlighting the persistent vulnerabilities in DeFi smart contracts.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, Jacob Irwin-Cline, a visitor from Portland, Oregon, encountered a premeditated theft during a brief stay in London's West End. Around 1:30 AM on May 9, he called an Uber after leaving The Roxy nightclub in Soho, but was intercepted by a fake driver who knew his name. The driver offered a cigarette laced with scopolamine (a sedative that keeps victims awake but makes them suggestible), causing Irwin-Cline to inadvertently provide his phone password and access to his crypto accounts.The assailant directly accessed his wallet, stealing approximately $72,000 worth of XRP tokens, $50,000 in Bitcoin, and other small cryptocurrencies, with total losses exceeding $123,000. The police are investigating the case, but no arrests have been made yet.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Paraguayan law enforcement has disclosed that three Chinese nationals have been expelled for illegal entry and one Paraguayan suspect has been arrested. This group is suspected of attempting to steal from the cryptocurrency mining site of Teratech SA in Coronel Bogado. The prosecution stated that the three expelled individuals had no legal entry records and are suspected of entering illegally through the borders of Brazil or Bolivia.Paraguayan prosecutor Irene Rolón pointed out that the arrested Paraguayan suspect, Nahun María Velázquez Garcete, has now been charged with serious theft, and the case is still under further investigation.It is reported that the mining site is located near the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, which attracts many cryptocurrency mining operations due to its abundant hydroelectric resources.The prosecution is verifying the specific relationship between the three expelled individuals and the involved company. The specific details of the case's losses and the suspects' injuries have not yet been disclosed.

ChainCatcher news, on-chain detective ZachXBT tweeted that the police mistakenly detained former Yuga Labs security researcher Sam Curry in the 2022 Bored Ape NFT theft case (involving 14 NFTs worth over $1 million). ZachXBT identified the real suspect's wallet and its associated X accounts (now deleted) by tracking the flow of funds (including the Tornado Cash mixer).He pointed out that the police incorrectly used Curry's IP address (which appeared in the OpenSea logs due to his investigative work) as evidence, while Curry actually discovered the private key left by the attacker during his investigation of the theft.

ChainCatcher news, according to on-chain detective ZachXBT, in the case where an early Bitcoin holder had $330 million worth of Bitcoin stolen, $7 million in funds have been frozen. The freezing action was assisted by institutions such as Binance.Previous news, ZachXBT referred to the $330 million BTC theft incident as a social engineering theft targeting an elderly person in the U.S.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the Los Angeles Police Department has cracked a theft case, seizing Bitcoin mining machines worth $2.7 million. Other stolen items include tequila, pet food, and coffee, and two suspects linked to South American criminal gangs have been arrested.It is reported that the investigation is still ongoing, and more suspects may be arrested in the future. The Los Angeles Police Department has not yet disclosed how they will handle these Bitcoin mining machines.

ChainCatcher message, ZachXBT released an investigation on the X platform targeting the identity of a whale with 50x leverage on Hyperliquid. By tracking on-chain transactions, it was discovered that a person named "William Parker" is associated with the 50x leverage whale on Hyperliquid. He was arrested last year for stealing approximately $1 million from two casinos in 2023 and was sentenced in Finland. Before this, he was known as Alistair Packover (William Peckover) and later changed his name.In the early 2010s, Alistair Packover made headlines in the UK multiple times due to fraud charges related to hacking and gambling. It is clear that he did not learn his lesson after serving several years for fraud and may continue to gamble. Currently, his funds are mainly stored in:0x51d99A4022a55CAd07a3c958F0600d8bb0B39921

ChainCatcher news, according to on-chain detective ZachXBT, a forfeiture lawsuit document submitted by U.S. law enforcement yesterday revealed the reason behind Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen's approximately $150 million (283 million XRP) theft incident in January 2024. The incident stemmed from Larsen storing his private key in the LastPass password manager, which suffered a data breach in 2022.The document shows that after the victim entered the cryptocurrency wallet private key into the online password manager, the physical record of the private key would be immediately destroyed. The password manager experienced two major data breaches in August and November 2022, during which attackers stole encrypted passwords and vault data. An FBI investigation found that this stolen data was used to illegally access the electronic accounts of multiple victims, stealing information, cryptocurrency, and other data.

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.