Sydney woman accused of $450,000 crypto theft

A 23-year old woman is alleged to have caused a huge ripple – by stealing A$450,000 of the cryptocurrency.

NSW Police revealed they arrested the woman this morning in Epping, who was taken to Sydney’s Ryde Police Station accused of the unauthorised hacking of the email account of the owner of 100,000 (XRP) Ripple units and stealing the entire cache. The stolen XRP was worth A$450,000 at the time of the theft earlier this year, although the crypto has slumped in value since then.

Police say other parties could also be involved in the huge crypto theft, one of the first reported crimes of its type in Australia, but will be ‘the norm’ in the coming years, NSW police Cybercrime Squad have warned.

Also read: Your household rubbish could be worth $4,200

The 23-year old is alleged to have changed the [owner’s] email password and set up a dual factor authentication, thus preventing the victim from accessing his own account. The 56-year old victim was effectively shut out of his account for several days and to his horror discovered the XRP had been swiped.

The stolen crypto was then transferred to an exchange in China where the XRP units were converted to the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and moved to electronic wallets.

Police admit they have no clue where the stolen money has gone, given the private nature of crypto exchanges. The price of (XRP) Ripple has plummeted in 2018, amid a broader slide in the value of digital currencies.

The NSW Police cyber crime squad investigation known as Strikeforce Rostrevor was established In January to investigate the theft. The young woman is now being charged with technology-enabled theft of cryptocurrency, and more charges could be made in the coming weeks.

“This type of crime is becoming more and more common in the community with people investing and buying crypto,” warned Cybercrime Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis today.

Also read: Bitcoin and Ripple push higher after analyst calls a bottom on prices

“Personal identification should be treated and secured as you would cash.” He compared online cyber crime to people sifting through your rubbish bin to stealing personal details and, ultimately, your identity.

NSW police recommended using ‘multi-factor authentication’ – using a password, mobile app, biometrics and/or SMS when setting up online accounts to prevent your email or other accounts being hacked by cyber thiefs.

“We can afford be to be complacent – the human is the weak link in this puzzle,” Detective Katsogiannis warned.

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