Canadian Steals $34,650,000 in Cryptocurrency, Then Continues Stealing While on Bail: Report

A Canadian man has been sentenced to one year behind bars for stealing $34.6 million worth of crypto assets and continuing to steal while out on bail.

According to a new report from the Canadian state-run CBC, an unnamed man from Hamilton has pleaded guilty to a theft spree that saw him net CAD $1 million ($722,256) from 200 victims.

However, the man’s crime spree occurred when he was out on bail for a different crime he committed when he was a teenager – one that saw him steal a staggering CAD $48 million ($34.6 million) from a single person, making it potentially the largest heist in the history of Canada.

The perpetrator was only 17 years old at the time of the theft.

Court documents reveal that in 2022, the man called one of his victims’ cell phone providers and convinced a worker to change the phone number associated with their SIM card. This then redirected two-step authentication texts to him, allowing him to log in to the victim’s accounts, including online crypto wallets

He then transferred the digital assets to his own account and proceeded to launder them – their whereabouts still unknown, according to the report. However, he was caught when he transferred Bitcoin (BTC) belonging to his victim to a PlayStation user as a means of purchasing the username “God.”

When he was let out on bail in May 2022, he orchestrated another scheme where he took control of X accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers and posted links to scam websites, allowing him to gain access to victims’ crypto wallets once again.

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