SIM Swap Heist Sees Chinese Whale Suffer a Whopping $45 Million Loss

Reports indicate that a Chinese crypto whale is sweating over the loss of $ 45 Million worth of BTC and BHC. A whale going by the username Zhoujianfu made frantic appeals for help in recovering the stolen funds.

Through a “BTC” subreddit posting Zhoujianfu informed the community of the heist promising a huge reward for assistance in getting the funds back. An extract from the post reads:

This] is my address, goddamnit. [The transactions] only [have] 3 confirmations, if any miners/the community can help somehow, I’ve got the private keys. Help, help, help… big reward obviously.

Covered Tracks?

The signing off of the message by a Bitcoin private Key confirms that the said individual is the owner of the attached addresses. It also lays credence to the report that 30 million USD worth of BHC together with BTC valued at 15 million USD were stolen

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NewsBTC’s analysis revealed that the loot’s perpetrator(s) split up the coins after moving them from the affected addresses. It’s taken that they did this to cover their tracks.

SIM Swap

Dovey Wan also confirmed the incident. He referred to the victim as a Chinese whale that fell prey to a SIM swap scam. 

Often such are difficult to verify. Additionally, many question why an individual would store such a colossal sum of crypto on a platform that’s accessible through a mobile phone.

A SIM swap scam entails the stealing of an individual’s cellular identity. Typically it employs social engineering approaches. Hackers then read their victim’s sensitive information including crypto exchange login credentials to their nefarious ends. 

Bitcoin’s Two Faces

Bitcoin’s proponents keep on about its merits. For instance, it enables them to transform into their own bank. Furthermore, it allows more functions compared to mainstream financial institutions among others.

On the flip side, there are demerits of individuals using Bitcoin to become their own bank. Chief among these is that there’s a high likelihood of being hacked.

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Despite the news, the market remained unshaken. At the time of reporting Bitcoin’s price had declined by 0.29% in the last 24 hours. The decline contrasts sharply with the crash from $10.3k to $9,250 within minutes previously recorded.