Malone Lam pleads guilty in $245M theft that hacked people, not wallets
The online wallets were not hacked. The individuals owning them were the ones hacked.
Twenty-two-year-old Malone Lam, who is a citizen of Singapore as well as a recent resident of Miami, on Tuesday, pleaded guilty to one count of RICO conspiracy for leading a gang that used social engineering to steal and launder an amount of over $245 million in cryptocurrency.
The prosecutors indicated that Lam and his group used the technique of social engineering, targeted wealthy holders of cryptocurrency, pretended to be trustworthy companies/organizations, and made the victims give away their personal data or access.
How a fake security warning drained $245 million
The largest theft happened on August 18, 2024. According to prosecutors, the offenders pretended they were representatives of Google and Gemini and convinced a victim in Washington, D.C., to let them into Google Drive and give them security codes. They drained more than 4,100 Bitcoin, equivalent to over $245 million, from the victimโs wallet.
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