Australia: More than 2,000 cryptocurrency wallets of Australians were illegally compromised.

The Australian Federal Police revealed that bad actors illegally hacked into thousands of Australians' cryptocurrency wallets to steal millions of digital assets.

The discovery comes from Operation Spincaster, a global initiative against cryptocurrency fraud led by Chainalysis.

More than 2,000 Australian cryptocurrency wallets breached

On August 4, Australian Financial Review reported that more than 2,000 cryptocurrency wallets were illegally compromised through phishing scams. These tricks trick victims into authorizing unauthorized Token transfers.

Operation Spincaster, which involved six countries — the US, UK, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands and Australia — highlights the scale of these scams. The investigation generated more than 7,000 leads and resulted in approximately $162 million in damages.

In Australia, the Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Center (JPC3) assisted in the investigation of the cryptocurrency theft. Detective Chief Inspector Tim Stainton of the Australian Federal Police emphasized the importance of the operation. According to him, the campaign has helped identify solutions to the constant threat from cybercrime.

“The intelligence we have gathered together throughout Operation Spincaster has shed light on new tactics used by cybercriminals in their ongoing efforts to defraud Australians, and it will be an important part of important in our further investigations to identify victims of cybercrime and disrupt perpetrators in Australia,”

Stainton added .

Experts have emphasized that phishing scams remain a major threat in the cryptocurrency space. These attacks include impersonating legitimate entities to steal sensitive information and access victims' wallets. Scam Sniffer reports that more than 260,000 individuals lost $314 million to phishing scams in the first half of this year.

On another matter, Australian prosecutors want a Crypto.com user jailed for misappropriating funds. In May 2021, the cryptocurrency exchange accidentally transferred 10.47 million Australian dollars (6.86 million USD) to Thevamanogari Manivel and Jatinder Singh instead of refunding 100 AUD. This error occurs due to entering the wrong account number.

The pair spent some of the money before the exchange realized the error. With approximately $4.9 million already recovered, prosecutors are now seeking a prison sentence, arguing that the large sums involved require serious legal consequences.

Meanwhile, these incidents highlight the rise of crypto crime in Australia. A recent report by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (AUSTRAC) pointed to an increase in the criminal use of cryptocurrencies in the country.

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