U.S. Department of Justice Charges 12 in $263 Million Cryptocurrency Fraud Case

According to PANews, the U.S. Department of Justice has charged 12 individuals in connection with a $263 million cryptocurrency fraud network allegedly orchestrated by Malone Lam. The group is accused of employing tactics such as social engineering scams, database breaches, and physical theft of hardware wallets. Lam himself faces charges for a single fraud amounting to $230 million. Currently, 10 of the defendants have been apprehended, while two accomplices remain at large in Dubai. The indictment outlines the group's operations, which included target selection, phone scams, money laundering, and physical theft. Lam reportedly monitored victims' iCloud data remotely and directed associates to conduct burglaries. Records from August 2024 indicate the group stole 4,100 bitcoins, valued at $385.4 million at the time, through peer-to-peer scams. In September of the previous year, ZachXBT revealed that individuals known as Greavys (Malone Lam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) were implicated in a sophisticated social engineering attack, resulting in the theft of $243 million from a Genesis creditor on August 19, 2024.