Romanian authorities were pursuing an operation in which a person was detained for alleged involvement of the person in a case of theft from a cryptocurrency exchange. The investigation revealed that the unnamed trading platform company is located in the Cayman Islands.
Over $ 620,000 stolen during cyber attack
According to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Romanian Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism, the crypto exchange suffered a massive cyber attack between January 28 and 31, 2021.
Although there are no essential details about the company, it has been classified by the authorities as “the seventh largest cryptocurrency operator in the world”. The unidentified man is suspected of being caught in the robbery with over $ 620,000 worth of crypto.
According to the official press release, prosecutors have charged him with IT fraud, money laundering and hacking. The results also show that the alleged hacker gained access to sensitive API codes, which eventually opened the doors to full access to the entire Exchange system.
Person to be detained for 30 days
The person reportedly transferred the stolen cryptos to multiple wallets to hide the traceability of the transactions. To bypass verification procedures, the man made withdrawals less than 10,000 lei ($ 2,430).
Still, the person intended to benefit from such moves as the people behind the wallets paid him in fiat, prosecutors said.
The Romanian authorities gave further details about the operation in Iasi:
Prosecutors from DIICOT – Iași Territorial Service, together with judicial officers from BCCO Iași, carried out two house searches, followed by seven cell phones, three laptops, five memory sticks and two electronic wallets, and an amount of 10,800 lei (2,630 USD). The amount of 40,000 lei (USD 9,750) was also reclaimed from the account of one of the bitcoin exchangers.
The defendant is expected to remain in custody for 30 days as the Iași court will be responsible for handling the legal process of the case.
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