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Two Bitcoin fraudsters were arrested Wednesday, cutting short their luxurious lifestyle. Bybit/flickr.com

KEY POINTS

  • The indictment said Lam and Serrano wanted to 'unjustly enrich themselves'
  • They stole over 4,100 $BTC and lived in luxury – international travel and cars among other purchases
  • ZachXBT revealed how Lam had been giving out Birkin bags to girls

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) put an end to the luxurious lifestyle of two scammers after they were arrested and charged for conspiring to steal and launder more than $230 million in Bitcoin from a victim in Washington, D.C.

Malone Lam, 20, and Jeandiel Serrano, 21, were arrested Wednesday night in Miami and appeared in court Thursday. Lam uses the online monikers "Anne Hathaway" and "$$$," while Serrano went by "VersaceGod" and @Skidstar" to facilitate their fraudulent operations.

Enriching Themselves with Victim's Money

According to indictment documents, Lam and Serrano pulled off a month-long scam operation with other co-conspirators from at least August through September. The accused "gained access to victim cryptocurrency accounts and unlawfully transferred victim funds into their possession."

They then laundered the illicitly obtained funds through various crypto exchanges and mixing services in an attempt to obscure the source of the digital assets. The indictment further noted that the conspiracy was started so Lam, Serrano, and their co-conspirators can "unjustly enrich themselves by targeting victims for cryptocurrency thefts and fraud and laundering the proceeds."

A Luxurious Lifestyle from Pilfered Bitcoin

Lam, Serrano, and the other conspirators contacted a victim from D.C. on Aug. 18, 2024 and fraudulently obtained more than 4,100 Bitcoin worth over $230 million at the time.

The duo, along with their co-conspirators then went global trotting, hung out at nightclubs and availing of the services, and purchased luxury items, including cars, jewelry, watches, and designer handbags. They also used the stolen $BTC to pay for their rent in Los Angeles and Miami, as per the indictment.

Lam and Serrano are expected to forfeit "any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable" upon conviction, the indictment stated.

Crypto Sleuth Goes into Shocking Details

Prominent crypto researcher ZachXBT provided an in-depth account of how Lam, Serrano, and their co-conspirators carried out the fraud that saw a single victim lose hundreds of millions in BTC. He identified another co-conspirator as Veer Chetal, a.k.a "Wiz."

He revealed how Lam lived "a flashy lifestyle" after stealing the victim's Bitcoins, purchasing more than 10 vehicles and "giving out Birkin bags to girls." Birkin bags cost tens of thousands of dollars each. ZachXBT also published a private video recording that showed "the live reaction by multiple of the threat actors to receiving $238M."

US Tops List of Hardest-Hit Countries in Crypto-related Security Complaints

News of Lam and Serrano's arrest comes about a week after the FBI announced its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received more than 69,000 complaints from the public in relation to fraud with a cryptocurrency nexus in 2023.

Of the said complaints, a staggering 57,762 came from Americans, making the U.S. the top country in the world to have seen complaints related to crypto frauds and scams. To prove urgency of the matter, Canada is on the second spot, with 1,236 complaints logged last year.

Fraudsters, Scammers Evolving Tricks

Blockchain analytics and security firm Chainalysis previously warned that scammers and fraudsters in the crypto space have evolved with time. They employ various tactics to steal digital assets and can even "regenerate" operations that they previously ended.

Pig-butchering scams, wherein victims are lured into investing their crypto, remains a major problem in the digital assets space. From 2020 through February 2024, it is estimated that $75 billion was lost to pig-butchering operations.

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