While Genesis has been repaying its creditors since the beginning of August, some criminals have taken advantage of the situation to defraud one of them. Crypto detective ZachXBT has highlighted social engineering practices that allowed the scammers to steal $243 million in cryptocurrencies.
Victim of Social Engineering, Genesis Creditor Stolen Out of $243 Million
Famous on-chain investigator ZachXBT has once again made headlines. On X, The crypto sleuth has presented his latest discovery regarding one of the creditors of Genesis, a crypto lending platform that went bankrupt..
1/ An investigation into how Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) stole $243M from a single person last month in a highly sophisticated social engineering attack and my efforts which have helped lead to multiple arrests and millions frozen. pic.twitter.com/dcY1e9xsPd
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 19, 2024
At the beginning of August, Genesis officially begins the repayment of its creditors, distributing billions of dollars in cryptocurrencies for the occasion. For some scammers, This is a golden opportunity to grab some of this money..
👌 Follow our guide to protect yourself from any cryptocurrency scams
3 scammers whose pseudonyms are Greavys, Wiz and Box, will target one of Genesis' creditors and manipulate him using a well-known technique: social engineering..
To commit their misdeed, ZachXBT explains that on August 19, These scammers called the creditor pretending to be Google support and telling their target that their accounts were compromised.This first call allowed them to give credibility to the rest of the operation.
Indeed, They called the famous creditor again, pretending to be Genesis customer service. and making him believe that his accounts were hacked. They then invited him to share his personal information. via the use of screen sharing software and send their funds to a compromised wallet to supposedly secure them.
Unfortunately for the creditor, this allowed the scammers, from this wallet, to distribute the stolen amount in cryptocurrencies to other wallets. These funds were then transferred to around fifteen crypto platforms which allowed these cryptocurrencies to be exchanged into Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Monero.
To cover their tracks, the scammers separated the stolen funds and increased the transfers between wallets.
Ledger: the best solution to protect your cryptocurrencies 🔒
ZachXBT leads the investigation, managing to freeze some of the funds and lead to the arrest of the scammers.
In all, the Genesis creditor targeted by this attack was robbed $243 million in cryptocurrency. However, anxious to see the victim reimbursed and the scammers behind bars, investigator ZachXBT conducted his investigation.
The crypto detective went on a hunt for mistakes and it was fruitful. Wiz, one of the scammers, received a significant percentage of commission on this flight and made a first error on August 19 by disclosing his real name to his target.
So, ZachXBT was able to identify the address of the wallet where part of the stolen funds, approximately $34.5 million, is located. Similarly, a friend of Wiz identified under the pseudonym Light/Dark, helped him launder the stolen funds using the eXch and Thorswap platforms. In the process, he also inadvertently disclosed his name, to identify a second wallet.
🔎 Discover the 7 most common crypto scams and how to identify them
For his part, Greavys did not hesitate to strut his stuff, showing off the loot she stole from Discord servers and linking $3.5 million of the stolen money to a third wallet. ZachXBT also got her identity, as well as the city where she lives.
Regarding Box, the person who impersonated Genesis support uses the same profile picture on Discord, Telegram and other social networks. This is how the on-chain investigator obtained his real name and a series of wallet addresses where nearly $60 million is stored..
Thanks to the information collected by ZachXBT, More than $9 million has already been frozen by exchanges, including Binance. This Thursday, Box and Greavys were arrested in Miami and Los Angeles by the FBI. Wiz remains untraceable for the time being.
Cryptoast Research: Don't Spoil This Bull Run, Surround Yourself With Experts
The #1 Crypto Newsletter 🍞
Receive a daily crypto news recap by email 👌
What you need to know about affiliate links. This page may feature investment-related assets, products, or services. Some links in this article may be affiliate links. This means that if you purchase a product or sign up for a site from this article, our partner pays us a commission. This allows us to continue to provide you with original and useful content. There is no impact on you and you can even get a bonus for using our links.
Investing in cryptocurrencies is risky. Cryptoast is not responsible for the quality of the products or services presented on this page and could not be held responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused following the use of a good or service highlighted in this article. Investments related to crypto-assets are risky by nature, readers must do their own research before taking any action and only invest within the limits of their financial capacities. This article does not constitute investment advice.
AMF recommendations. There is no guaranteed high return, a product with a high return potential implies a high risk. This risk-taking must be in line with your project, your investment horizon and your ability to lose part of these savings. Do not invest if you are not prepared to lose all or part of your capital.
To go further, read our Financial Situation, Media Transparency and Legal Notices pages.
Surprised by the rise of crypto-assets in the late 2010s, I started to closely follow this sector that fascinates me to the highest degree. When I am not in football stadiums, rugby or handball halls, I work on writing relevant articles about cryptocurrencies and more broadly, Web3.
Zacharie Tazrout
95 articles
