$87 million worth Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH] heist; 3 suspects arrested by China police

According to a local news portal, three men have been arrested for being involved in hacking computers and stealing around $87 million worth Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum [ETH] in China. This is recorded as the biggest heist in China involving cryptocurrencies.

The investigation has been ongoing since March 2018. A resident of Xian city had filed a complaint stating that his computer was hacked and over 100 million yuan in Bitcoin and Ethereum were stolen.

The local police officer said:

“Our bureau has not dealt with this kind of case before. It’s the first virtual currency related case in Shaanxi”

The report states that the three hackers were working for IT firms. They split the stolen cryptocurrencies by selling them in small portions. Moreover, they had carried out multiple transactions to avoid being traced by the authorities.

The first suspect to be arrested by the police is Zhou, a man from Hunan province. In order to make the first arrest, the police had to analyze over 30,000 pieces of information. In addition, they also sought the help of the domestic internet companies.

The police took two more months to identify the other suspects involved in the case after making their first arrest. The suspects are identified as residents from Beijing and Jilin province. The police arrested the two suspects after coordinately executing raids on Wednesday. The investigation regarding the case is still on-going.

This is not the first case which has come in light regarding cryptocurrency heist in China. Recently, around 1.5 billion worth Bitcoin scam was caught by the Guangdong police. The fraud was related to online gambling. According to the reports, around 540 people were arrested for being involved in the fraud. Additionally, they seized servers, mobile phones, cards, and computer.

The report also states that there were more than 20 gangs and over 70 gambling apps and online portals involved in the case. The gambling platform supported cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin [BTC], Litecoin [LTC] and Ethereum [ETH]. Several gangs took advantage of the online gambling platform during the World Cup which was held in Russia this year.

Moreover, according to a report, China along with Russia and the USA has become the main hub for cryptocurrency hackers. The report ‘2018 Cryptocurrency Exchanges-User Accounts Leaks Analysis’, released by Group-IB, an international investigation firm. It was an analysis of user account leaks and focused on providing suggestions related to the security of users and exchange platforms. The report states that registered users of the top 3 countries have become the victims of “cyber attacks” and that every third user from the USA is a victim.