DOJ charges hackers for stealing $230 million in crypto from individual

The Justice Department arrested two people on Wednesday and unsealed an indictment accusing the pair of stealing more than $230 million worth of cryptocurrency from a victim in Washington, D.C.

Malone Lam, a 20-year-old Miami resident, and Jeandiel Serrano, a 21-year-old from Los Angeles, are accused of carrying out cryptocurrency thefts and attempting to launder the proceeds through exchanges and mixing services. 

The two would break into cryptocurrency accounts and transfer the funds to other wallets under their control, attempting to mask their identities through VPNs and other tools. 

The Justice Department said Lam and Serrano spent the money on vacations, luxury cars, watches and rental homes. 

“In one instance, on August 18, 2024, Lam, Serrano, and their conspirators contacted a victim in D.C. and, through the communications with that victim, fraudulently obtained over 4,100 Bitcoin (worth over $230 million at the time),” the Justice Department said. 

Lam is a citizen of Singapore and both are appearing in U.S. District Courts in California and Florida. 

The Justice Department worked with the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) on the case. 

J5 Cyber Challenge

The arrests and indictments came on the same day that the IRS-CI said it partnered with investigators from government financial regulators in Australia, Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands on a five-day challenge where the countries learned best practices from each other on how to investigate cryptocurrency related scams and more. 

More than 30 criminal investigators, cryptocurrency experts and data scientists convened in Brisbane, Australia this week in the sixth iteration of an effort by law enforcement agencies to gain a better understanding of how to track crimes involving cryptocurrency and crypto platforms. 

Participants examined money laundering schemes, tax evasion efforts and fake casinos used to hide the source of stolen cryptocurrency.

The head of IRS-CI, Guy Ficco, said the event gave investigators a chance to exchange data on cryptocurrency-based platforms that lack controls. 

“We know that without these controls in place, online platforms become playgrounds for criminal activity,” Ficco said. “Our goal is to stop criminals in their tracks, and the exchange of information that occurs during these Challenges allows us to embark on new investigations to do just that.”

The goal is to get ahead of criminal actors who are rapidly evolving alongside technological advancements. 

Criminals are early adopters of new technology that knows no country borders, said Niels Obbink, director general of the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service. 

“One of the goals of the Challenge was to explore and understand new illegal digital modus operandi for financial crime,” Obbink added. “The intelligence that was generated helps us to target the most influential digital criminal actors to investigate or to tackle with other disruptive interventions.”