According to TechFlow, on September 19, ZachXBT, a well-known on-chain detective, published an article on the X platform, detailing a major crypto asset theft against a Genesis creditor. On August 19, 2024, three hackers stole $243 million worth of crypto assets from a Genesis creditor through a highly sophisticated social engineering attack. According to ZachXBT's investigation, the attackers first impersonated Google customer service, deceived the victim over the phone, and successfully hacked into their personal accounts. Later, they disguised themselves as support staff at the Gemini exchange, claiming that the account was hacked, inducing the victim to reset two-factor authentication and transfer funds from the Gemini account to the controlled wallet. Finally, the hackers induced the victim to share the screen using AnyDesk remote desktop software, thereby stealing the private key of the Bitcoin Core wallet.
ZachXBT identified three main suspects: Veer Chetal (alias Wiz), Malone Iam (alias Greavys), and Jeandiel Serrano (alias Box). Among them, Veer received the largest share of the stolen money, about $34.5 million, which is still in the address 0x3c7a5f2795e73d2b94a9120a643f608cfc45c935. Malone lived a lavish life in Los Angeles and Miami, spending up to $250,000 to $500,000 a day, and even gave Hermès handbags to women. Jeandiel was responsible for impersonating Gemini customer service to commit fraud.
Thanks to the joint efforts of ZachXBT, CFInvestigators, Zeroshadow, and the Binance security team, more than $9 million in funds have been successfully frozen, of which more than $500,000 has been returned to victims. Notably, Malone and Jeandiel have been arrested in Miami and Los Angeles, respectively. Law enforcement expects that more funds may be seized during the arrests, as a large amount of fund transfers were observed before and after the arrests.
