Chinese police detain crypto bandits that stole $87 million

Police in China have arrested three persons accused of stealing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with a value equivalent to $87 million, local media report.

The arrests stem from a complaint in March from a victim name Zhang who told police in the northwestern city of Xi’an he had been hacked and robbed of $14.5 million in crypto assets. The police then began an investigation that concluded 15th August with arrests in the provinces of Hunan and Changchun, as well as in Beijing.

Remote hacking techniques

The month-long investigation found that the thieves had used remote hacking techniques to gain access to and control of Zhang’s cryptocurrency accounts. Police asked internet companies to assist in the investigation, and that is how they came across one of the suspects identified as Zhou. Investigators then identified Zhou’s accomplices, whom they have described as highly skilled cyber thieves.

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The three suspects are accused of breaching the security of various corporate and individual networks and nabbing circa 600 million yuan, equivalent to about $87 million. Zhou is currently in detention as are his two partners in crime. Police say that their investigations are continuing across three provinces.

More police action

Last month, Chinese police arrested the developers of malware who had made off with $2 million in cryptocurrency. The crypto bandits mined cryptocurrency through infecting about a million computers in the country.

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In the past few months, police in the provinces of Tianjin and Anhui arrested crypto miners who were stealing electricity. Police also seized their mining rigs and computers.