Two individuals, a Singaporean residing in the United States and a US citizen, have been charged with conspiring to steal and launder over $230 million in cryptocurrency.
The pair, identified as 20-year-old Malone Lam, a Singaporean who splits his time between Miami and Los Angeles, and 21-year-old Jeandiel Serrano from Los Angeles, were arrested on Wednesday night by the FBI.
Details Of The Crypto Laundering Scheme
According to a press release from the US Department of Justice, Lam and Serrano fraudulently acquired more than 4,100 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $230 million during the theft, from a victim based in Washington D.C.
Lam, known online by the aliases “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$”, and Serrano, who uses the handles “VersaceGod” and “@SkidStar”, made their initial court appearance on Thursday.
They are accused of leading a crypto theft and laundering operation that involved fraudulent access to victims’ crypto accounts, which allowed them to transfer funds into their control. The Justice Department noted that this scheme had been operating since August of this year.
The scheme orchestrated by Lam and Serrano included advanced laundering techniques to conceal the origin of the stolen assets. According to the allegations, they used cryptocurrency exchanges and mixing services to process and obscure the movement of the stolen Bitcoin.
A key method employed in this operation was “peel chains,” a technique in which large sums of cryptocurrency are broken into smaller transactions, making it difficult to trace the funds.
Additionally, virtual private networks (VPNs) and pass-through wallets added anonymity to their activities, allowing them to avoid detection while laundering the stolen funds.
How Was The Scam Pulled Off?
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT provided insight into how the scam was carried out. In a post on social media platform X, ZachXBT explained that the accused individuals used “sophisticated social engineering” tactics to defraud their victims.
2/ Incident Summary: On August 19, 2024 the threat actors targeted a single Genesis creditor by:
1) Calling as Google Support via spoofed number to compromise personal accounts 2) Calling after as Gemini support claiming account is hacked 3) Social engineered victim into… pic.twitter.com/gemvrdRLNm
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 19, 2024
The $230 million fraud case involved the targeting of a creditor from the now-defunct trading firm Genesis. The group allegedly used a spoofed phone number posing as Google support to convince the victim to reset their two-factor authentication, ultimately transferring their cryptocurrency into the conspirators’ control.
According to the US DOJ, the stolen cryptocurrency was used to fund a lavish lifestyle, with the proceeds being spent on luxury goods and experiences.
The law enforcement mentioned that Lam and Serrano spent the laundered cryptocurrency on high-end travel, visits to exclusive nightclubs, luxury cars, expensive jewelry, designer handbags, and rental properties in Miami and Los Angeles.
Their extravagant spending patterns, funded by stolen assets, eventually drew the attention of authorities.
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