The DEA Accidentally Sent $50,000 Of Seized Cryptocurrency To A Scammer

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) lost over $55,000 in seized cryptocurrency to a common scam after falling victim to a crypto address spoofing attack. The scammer was able to trick the DEA by airdropping a fake address that resembled the real one used by the United States Marshals Service, resulting in the agency mistakenly sending the funds to the scammer's account. The scammer then converted the funds into ether and moved them to a new wallet, with over $425,000 received since June, and over $300,000 of that amount being moved in the last three weeks. The FBI is leading the investigation into the theft.

forbes.com

Relevant topic timeline:

8/21/2023

FBI Seizes $1.7M In Cryptos: Ether And Stablecoins Dominate List

The FBI has seized $1.7 million worth of cryptocurrencies, including significant amounts of Ether and stablecoins, from March to July of this year, primarily from hardware wallets and Binance accounts.

8/20/2023

Hacker Behind $570,000,000 Exploit Gets Manually Liquidated for $52,300,000 by BNB Chain Protocol - The Daily Hodl

The hacker who stole $570 million from Binance last year had a portion of their stolen funds liquidated after the Venus community voted in favor of a governance proposal enabling the liquidation, and the attacker's position was manually liquidated for $52.3 million when the price of Binance Coin dropped.

8/23/2023

FBI Warns Crypto Firms That North Korean Hackers ‘May Attempt to Cash Out Bitcoin’ - Decrypt

The FBI has warned crypto companies that funds associated with North Korean hacker groups, Lazarus Group and APT38, have been moved and they may attempt to cash out their holdings, with roughly 1,580 Bitcoin, worth around $40 million, being linked to the cyber criminals.

8/26/2023

Scammer Nabs $55,000 in Crypto by Duping the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency: Report - The Daily Hodl

A scammer tricked the DEA into sending them $55,000 worth of crypto by creating a look-alike wallet address and receiving funds intended for the U.S. Marshals Service.

9/7/2023

Stake hack of $41M was performed by North Korean group: FBI

The FBI has determined that the $41 million hack of crypto gambling site Stake was carried out by North Korean hackers Lazarus Group, who have stolen over $200 million in cryptocurrency this year.

9/11/2023

Hackers Drain $691K in NFTs After Hijacking Vitalik Buterin's Twitter Account

Hackers stole over $691,000 from Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin's followers by posting a malicious phishing link that provided access to their wallets, with the majority of the stolen value being non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

9/14/2023

U.S. Government Gains New Powers to Sanction Cryptocurrency Mixers Used in Illicit Transactions

The US government has gained a boost in its efforts to prevent illegal cryptocurrency transfers by sanctioning cryptocurrency mixers, which allow users to mix their stolen funds and make transactions more difficult to trace, representing a departure from previous strategies of dealing with cybercrime after the fact.

9/21/2023

Victim Loses $4.5M in Crypto After Falling For Fake Exchange Scam

A cryptocurrency holder has lost $4.46 million in a phishing scam after funds were withdrawn from a Kraken exchange wallet and sent to a scammer's address, with scammers stealing around $337.1 million in total through similar attacks.

Topics

Posted 8/24/2023, 3:49:04 PM