n nn nn The Winklevoss twins have filed a lawsuit against bitcoin investor Charlie Shrem, alleging that Shrem stole 5,000 bitcoins from them in 2012.According to a recent report released by the New York Times, Charlie Shrem has made several large purchases over the past year, including multiple real estate properties, luxury cars, powerboats and a million house. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have since filed a civil suit against Shrem, alleging that these recent
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British Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years For Stealing $600,000 in Bitcoin
A British computer hacker was jailed for 10 years and eight months after being found guilty of selling 63,000 stolen credit and debit cards on the dark web. Police seized an amount of Bitcoin worth over 0,000.
UK Judge Sentences Hacker to 10 Years, Police Seize Over 0,000 in Bitcoin
26-year old Grant West, a computer hacker from Kent, United Kingdom, was described as a “one man cybercrime wave” for having stolen the personal data of approximately 165,000 people through a “phishing” scheme. The prosecution stated that he profited over £180,000 (approximately 0,000) from the scam and converted the proceeds into Bitcoin, which would then be stored in multiple accounts.
West would send emails pretending to be from Just Eat, an online food order and delivery service, to extract credit and debit card details from his victims. He was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison after admitting charges, which included conspiracy to commit fraud, computer misuse, and drug offences. Judge Michael Gledhill presided over the trial.
Cryptocurrencies have been increasingly used as means of payment and store of value by criminals, as cases brought to justice seem to prove. In March 2018, a Ukranian-Russian cybercriminal gang was caught after allegedly stealing up to €1 billion from banks in Spain, which then were converted into Bitcoin.
As these activities prove that Bitcoin is regarded as a safe store of value, criminals are also increasingly targeting the cryptocurrency ecosystem. In Malaysia, a criminal gang of nine members was arrested for stealing Bitcoin mining equipment, of at least 58 machines. In February 2018, the first Bitcoin robbery in Taiwan was attributed to four men who posed as potential Bitcoin buyers in order to steal the equivalent of 0,000.
Masquerading as Just Eat, Grant West offered a voucher in return for answering questions between July 2015 and December 2015. The phishing scam cost the firm over £200,000 (approximately 7,000), but there is no evidence their servers were hacked by West, according to the prosecution. Other high profile hack victims include British Airways, Barclays, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Uber, Argos, Coral.
The Police seized £25,000 (approximately ,000) in cash and £500,000 (approximately 6,000) in Bitcoin. Judge Michael Gledhill said £1.6 million (approximately .3 million) worth of cryptocurrency is unaccounted for.
“When such inadequate security is confronted with a criminal of your skills and ambition it is totally unfit for purpose and worthless. This case should be a wake-up call to customers, companies and the computer industry to the very real threat of cybercrime.”
Once the hacker had a set of customer details, he would then sell them on Alpha Bay, an online dark web market 10-times larger than Silk Road which was taken down by the authorities in July 2017.
Image from Shutterstock
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Fake Satoshi Accused of Stealing $10bn in BTC From Deceased Partner
Early Bitcoin developer and the unproven mastermind behind blockchain technology itself, Craig S Wright, has been accused of stealing between 550,000 and 1,100,000 Bitcoin from his deceased former partner Dave Kleiman. The lawsuit brought by Dave’s estate also alleges that Craig was responsible for appropriating various intellectual property that was owned by W&K Info Defense Research LLC – a company the pair founded.
Alleged Scheme Far From Airtight
The court notes, dated February 14, 2018, state that Craig and Dave had mined a “vast wealth of bitcoins from 2009 through 2013.” However, Dave’s family were completely unaware of his involvement in the founding of the cryptocurrency at the time.
Following Dave’s death in 2013, Craig is reported to have contacted Ira Kleiman (Dave’s brother) and informed him that the two had been instrumental in creating Bitcoin and that they had mined a substantial number together. He then claimed that Dave had previously signed over all his property to Craig in exchange for a share of an Australian company that he claimed was worth “millions.” This company quickly went bankrupt and left Dave’s estate with nothing.
After later finding various discrepancies in Craig’s story, Ira is seeking to sue Craig over Dave’s missing Bitcoin, along with his share of various intellectual property that Craig has since profited from. The case has been filed by Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
Craig is accused of replicating Dave’s signature on documents that authorise the transfer of Dave’s assets to Craig. According to the allegations, these documents were created at a later time and backdated to tie in with the story that Dave had indeed signed over the property. The documents in question are: a 2011 contract titled “Intellectual Property License Funding Agreement”, 2012 contract titled “Deed of Loan”, and a 2013 contract titled “Contract for the Sale of Shares of a Company Owning Business”.
However, the court notes report various red flags amongst the documents. The signature used on the contracts bears little to no resemblance to that used by Dave. The document states it is almost identical to a computer generated font called “Otto“. In addition, a “typo” on one of the contracts states the date being 2013. This was crossed out and changed to 2011. Dave was in hospital for most of 2013 and died of MRSA that April. The court notes speculate that the document was created in 2013 rather than 2011.
Adding further suspicion, the clauses in the contract are highly favourable to Craig. Most notable of these was the fact that the transfer was to remain entirely confidential. What’s more, the court notes state that none of the contracts were witnessed or notarised. This is downright bizarre considering the sums of money involved in the transfers, even at 2013 Bitcoin prices. Finally, it is acknowledged that Craig has a history of backdating documents. Wired report that he created documents to support his original claim that he is the creator of Bitcoin – Satoshi Nakamoto.
Boies Schiller Flexner LLP are yet to explicitly confirm the authenticity of the court notes referenced. However, the case does appear in documents filed with the District Court, S.D. Florida. Craig S. Wright is yet to comment via Twitter or otherwise about the case against him. For now, there is no mention of a date that the case will be heard.
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BitFunder Founder Charged by SEC for Stealing $61 Million Worth of Bitcoin
Today, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) brought charges against Jon E. Montroll and his exchange BitFunder for operating an unregistered securities exchange and defrauding users. On top of that, the agency also charged the operator — Montroll — with making false and misleading statements in connection with an unregistered offering of securities. BitFunder was a platform that permitted users to buy and sell virtual “shares” of various digital currency-related enterprises in exchange for Bitcoin.
“We allege that BitFunder operated unlawfully as an unregistered securities exchange. Platforms that engage in the activity of a national securities exchange, regardless of whether that activity involves digital assets, tokens, or coins, must register with the SEC or operate pursuant to an exemption. We will continue to focus on these types of platforms to protect investors and ensure compliance with the securities laws,” said Marc Berger, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Manhattan, charges Montroll and BitFunder with violations of the anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The complaint seeks permanent injunctions and disgorgement plus interest and penalties.
The agency alleges Montroll operated BitFunder as an unregistered online securities exchange and defrauded exchange users by misappropriating their Bitcoin, and also for failing to disclose a cyberattack on BitFunder’s system that resulted in the theft of more than 6,000 Bitcoin. Going off the price of Bitcoin today, that’s about ,800,000.
“As alleged in the complaint, Montroll defrauded exchange users by misappropriating their bitcoins and failing to disclose a cyberattack on the exchange’s system and the resulting bitcoin theft. We will continue to vigorously police conduct involving distributed ledger technology and ensure that bad actors who commit fraud in this space are held accountable,” said Lara S. Mehraban, Associate Regional Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.
Unfortunately for Montroll, his legal troubles don’t stop with the SEC: Also today, in a parallel criminal case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a complaint against him for perjury and obstruction of justice during the SEC’s investigation. This implies that Montroll, in some way, must have not fully cooperated with the SEC during the agency’s investigation.
This case comes as the SEC is cracking down on other companies and individuals it believes are partaking in shady business within the crypto-space. In January of this year, the agency advised people to “exercise caution” with Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
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ElectronGold is Effectively Stealing Bitcoin Gold Users’ Private Keys
Ever since Bitcoin Gold launched, there have been a fair few issues. Most users still can’t claim their funds properly unless they use a TREZOR or Coinomi wallet. While the currency is trading on some exchanges, it is still a niche market. ElectronGold is a website people really need to be careful of when it comes to claiming Bitcoin Gold. It seems the software used is designed to steal private keys. The nefarious activity in cryptocurrency continues unabated.
A lot of Bitcoin holders attempt to claim their Bitcoin Gold. This process has been far more complicated than it really should be. The launch of BTG has been anything but stellar, and things are only getting more complex. A limited number of wallets support BTG right now. Of those wallets, not every piece of software can be trusted either. ElectronGold, for example, is a wallet people need to avoid before they lose their money.
More Problems for Bitcoin Gold Enthusiasts
Although the developers claim it is a fork of Electrum, there is a lot more going on. Everything looks normal at first, but the source code of this project hints at a malicious activity. One user points out how this wallet mainly steals private keys rather than help users. Not the smartest business model, that much is evident. It is unclear how many users were affected by this theft already. It goes to show things will remain very difficult for the Bitcoin Gold supporters as well.
The Electrum team has nothing to do with this project, mind you. Someone took their code on GitHub and modified it. Once that was done, it was given the name of ElectronGold to appeal to Bitcoin Gold users. In the source code is a dropped VBA6 app responsible for exporting private keys. A very disturbing development that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. This type of activity should not be tolerated whatsoever.
It also appears someone is trying to discredit developer Fyookbal in the process. More specifically, they put his name on the ElectronGold “creation” despite not being affiliated with it. It is a bit unclear what is going on exactly, but this is a very problematic development. It will only make people even warier of Bitcoin Gold moving forward. The altcoin was struggling well before this incident. It seems things will only get a lot worse from here on out. We can only hope not too many people are affected by this malicious wallet.
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