Hamilton Police arrest teen for stealing $46M in Cryptocurrency
Posted November 17, 2021 12:25 pm.
A teen in Hamilton is accused of orchestrating a SIM swap attack to steal $46M in cryptocurrency from a person in the United States. Hamilton Police arrested the teen back in 2020 but are just now releasing the details.
According to police, in February of 2020, the suspect—whose name is not being released—hijacked the victim’s phone by manipulating cellular network employees and intercepting two-factor authorization requests. This gave the suspect access to cryptocurrency stored on a wallet in the victim’s phone.
Hamilton Police began the investigation in March of 2020 and worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force.
The joint investigation revealed that some of the stolen cryptocurrency was used to purchase an online username that was considered to be rare in the gaming community. This transaction led investigators to uncover the account holder of the rare username.
The suspect was tracked down and arrested for theft over $5,000.00 and possession of property or proceeds of property obtained by crime. This matter is before the courts.
Hamilton Police made multiple cryptocurrency seizures valued today in excess of $7 million CAD.
If you have any information that you believe could assist Police with the investigation into this crime you are asked to contact Detective Constable Kenneth Kirkpatrick by calling 905-546-4793.
To provide information anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit your anonymous tips online at http://www.crimestoppershamilton.com.
