Dutch police arrested a 39-year-old man on suspicion of laundering funds stolen through a malicious update of the Electrum cryptocurrency wallet.
According to the заявлению, the suspect laundered “tens of millions of euros”. He was traced through Bitcoin transactions.
According to law enforcement, he first transferred cryptocurrency into the privacy-focused coin Monero (and back), using the decentralized platform Bisq.
“Cryptocurrency, like ordinary money, is vulnerable to all kinds of crime. In particular, the anonymity and cross-border nature of digital assets provides opportunities for criminals. They can obtain them, for example, through extortion, hacking or fraud,” — the police said.
The man was arrested on 6 September in the town of Veenendaal in the province of Utrecht. On 8 September he was released, but remains under investigation.
During a search of the suspect, authorities seized several electronic storage devices and an unspecified amount of cryptocurrency.
In 2020, ZDNet researchers found that cybercriminals stole at least 1,980 BTC using a fraudulent Electrum update.
One user said he lost 1,400 BTC in a scam of a similar kind.
Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analytics.