Woman, 23, charged over $450K cryptocurrency theft in Sydney
A 23-YEAR-OLD woman who lives with her parents is the first person to be charged in Australia with stealing electronic currency as part of an elaborate and international cybercrime.
NSW
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A 23-YEAR-OLD woman who lives with her parents is the first person to be charged in Australia with stealing electronic currency as part of an elaborate and international cybercrime.
Katherine Nguyen from Epping is accused of stealing $450,000 worth of Ripple, the world’s third most popular cryptocurrency from a 56-year-old man.
Now, leading NSW Police are warning it is the future of crime, as people increasingly buy large amounts of unregulated online currencies.
Cybercrime Squad detectives allege Nguyen randomly targeted the man, hacking his email account and changing his password.
The man told police he had been locked out of his email account for two days in January, after which he checked his Ripple “wallet” to discover the balance was almost zero.
Police allege Nguyen had transferred 100,000 units of the man’s Ripple to a cryptocurrency exchange in China, where she had it converted to Bitcoin. She then allegedly transferred the Bitcoin again into a number of digital wallets.
Bitcoin is another online currency notoriously harder to track down than Ripple, due to encryption.
Strike Force Rostrevor was set up as soon as the man reported the lost funds in January and detectives began unpicking the woman’s digital footprint.
On Thursday morning at 8am, Public Order and Riot Squad police burst in the front door of her home on Dawson St, Epping raiding the modest property for computer equipment.
Nguyen was arrested and taken to Ryde Police Station where she was charged with knowingly deal with proceeds of crime.
She was released on bail more than six hours later and said “done what?” when asked if she was remorseful.
Cybercrime Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis said the allegations against Nguyen’s indicated digital scavengers were raiding people’s online identities.
“This is the modern equivalent of digging through a household rubbish bin or stealing mail,” Supt Katsogiannis said.
He said a “multi-faceted” authentication systems using passwords as well as text messages, one-time PIN numbers or biometric information was the only safeguard.
“We can’t afford to be complacent. The human is the weak link in this particular puzzle”, Supt Katsogiannis said.
He alleged Nguyen had “particular skills” in the area of crypto-fraud and may not have acted alone.
“We believed there may have been others involved and we also expect to lay further charges,” Supt Katsogiannis said.
Nguyen is due to front Burwood Local Court on November 19.