The post US To Seize $2.7m From North Korea’s Lazarus Group appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

The US is intensifying efforts to confiscate around $2.67 million worth of cryptocurrency from major hacks linked to Lazarus Group, an infamous cybercriminal organization believed to be based in North Korea. Cryptocurrency mixers like Tornado Cash and Sinbad are used by the criminal group to launder stolen funds. Sadly, there are bad people out there. According to two forfeiture complaints filed by the District of Columbia’s U.S. Attorney, the $2.67 million stolen funds are linked to the Deribit hack (around $1.7 million ) and the Stake.com’s exploit ($970,000). As detailed, the Deribit hack, which happened in November 2022, led to a loss of approximately $28 million. The attackers, identified as the Lazarus Group, accessed Deribit’s hot wallet and swapped the stolen funds to Ethereum. North Korea is Wild Hackers later transferred the Ethereum tokens to Tornado Cash, a known cryptocurrency mixer, in an attempt to launder the funds and convert it to USDT. Law enforcement traced some of the stolen funds after identifying hackers’ transactions and wallets. Some funds were frozen during the laundering process, recovering about $1.7 million in USDT. As of now, Deribit continues to operate and has stated that it remains in a financially sound position despite the hack. The second exploit targeting Stake.com, an online cryptocurrency casino, occurred last September. Hackers, using the same hot wallet tactic, stole $41 million and converted the stolen funds to Bitcoin using Avalanche Bridge. They also tried to launder the BTC through Sinbad and Yonmix, similar cryptocurrency mixing services to Tornado Cash. US authorities reportedly froze assets during the conversion and after mixing, as well as recovered around $970,000 worth of Avalanche-bridged Bitcoin. Tracking Down Hackers Last month, the FBI issued a warning on North Korean hackers. These criminal entities have intensively targeted Web3 and DeFi employees to gain access…

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Filed under: News - @ October 9, 2024 9:26 am