Two men have been arrested by the FBI and charged in relation to their alleged involvement in a scam which saw almost a quarter of a billion dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from a single victim.
20-year-old Malone Lam of Miami, and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, of Los Angeles, are charged with conspiring to steal and launder 3,100 Bitcoin (worth over $230 million) from a victim in Washington DC in August 2024.
Lam, a citizen of Singapore who, according to the US Department of Justice, uses the online handles “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$,” and Serrano, who uses the monikers “VersaceGod” and “@SkidStar,” were arrested last week.
Videos posted on social media showed armed FBI officers raid a property in Miami, seizing luxury cars.
Lam and Serrano are accused with conspiring with others to steal cryptocurrency and then launder their ill-gotten gains through exchanges and mixing services.
Reports have suggested that the heist began on August 19, 2024, when the men allegedly contacted their intended victim by posing as Google Support and using a spoofed telephone number Having tricked the victim into sharing their screen, the hackers were allegedly able to steal the investor’s private keys The victim was supposedly tricked into resetting the 2FA used to protect their cryptocurrency wallet, and funds were sent into a wallet under the control of the attackers.
According to the authorities, the arrested duo hoped to disguise their activities through the use of VPNs, pass-through wallets, VPNs, and peel chains (a technique for launder large amounts of cryptocurrency by breaking down a large amount into numerous smaller transactions, making it harder to track the fund’s original source and ultimate destination).
The indictment claims that Lam and Serrano spent the laundered proceeds on international travel, nightclubs, luxury cars, watches, jewelry, designer handbags, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
Cryptocurrency investigator ZachXBT has posted a lengthy thread on Twitter detailing what appears to have been highly sloppy operational security by Lam and Serrano.
Astonishingly, it appears that the scammers chose to record themselves on a group chat as they committed a massive heist.
If guilty of the charges, the duo’s lack of care may explain, in part, the speed at which the authorities were able to arrest those they suspected of stealing almost a quarter of a billion dollars.
As ZachXBT details, Lam was in the habit of giving away free designer handbags to girls at clubs – seemingly in an attempt to win their hearts.
One luxury handbag recipient, food blogger and podcaster Skylar Harrison, posted a video on TikTok describing her experience. Harrison also said that she saw the man who gifted her the handbag buy “hundreds of bottles of champagne.”
One acquaintance of Lam was even apparently gifted a pink Lamborghini as well as three Birkin bags.
Living the high life, spending $500,000 on a night out in LA and Miami clubs, and giving away designer handbags to random girls appears to be no guarantee that you’ll actually be able to get a girlfriend.
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