A man posing as an Uber driver in Scottsdale, Arizona, has reportedly been arrested after allegedly stealing a combined $300,000 of crypto from two unsuspecting passengers.
According to a Dec. 12 report from Fox10 Phoenix, the Scottsdale Police Department alleges Nuruhussein Hussein lured victims waiting outside the W Hotel in Scottsdale in March and again in October by posing as the Uber they ordered and talking to them by name.
Authorities allege Nuruhussein Hussein picked up two victims outside the W Hotel in Scottsdale and fleeced them of $300,000 in crypto. Source: Google
Once inside the car, police say Hussein asked to borrow the passenger’s phone because his device was broken. In the second case, Hussein offered to troubleshoot the Uber app after the passengers questioned why it indicated the driver hadn’t arrived yet.
It’s alleged Hussein then used his passenger’s phone to raid their Coinbase accounts with a phone-to-phone transfer of crypto and a phone transfer to cold storage. Court documents didn’t say how Hussein knew the names of the passengers who were waiting for an Uber.
According to prosecutors, Hussein threatened one of the victims when they became suspicious and asked for their phone back, telling them to “chill or something bad would happen.”
Hussein was arrested by Scottsdale detectives and Special Agents from the US Secret Service on Dec. 11 for theft, fraud schemes, and money laundering.
Prosecutors successfully petitioned a judge for a $200,000 secured cash bond and electronic monitoring if Hussein is able to pay the bond for his release. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.
Hussein has also been banned from using the internet and overseas travel after prosecutors successfully argued there was a risk of “further evidence” being destroyed or the defendant fleeing to Ethiopia, where he reportedly travels frequently. Hussein is due back in court on Dec. 18.
According to GitHub, there have been at least 19 recorded incidents of offline crypto robbery in different countries over the last year, compared to 17 in 2023 and 32 in 2021.
The online platform lists incidents of in-person crypto theft dating back to 2014 when an unknown caller allegedly tried to extort computer scientist and cryptographer Hal Finney of 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $400,000 at the time.
In the most recent recorded incident on Dec. 3, thieves in Melbourne, Australia, drove through a shopping center window and made off with a Bitcoin ATM. Melbourne police later found the ATM in a park pried open and on fire.
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