Where cryptocurrency has taken every country by storm through its revolutionary technology and secure transactions, crypto frauds are also increasing day by day. One such incidence has just occurred in a country known for its strict laws, Japan.
The crypto seizure took place in the capital of the country Tokyo. It was Japan’s first-ever crypto seizure. According to the report, the Bitcoin worth $46,000 were expropriated. The cryptocurrency was recovered that was once lost by Coincheck exchange in the year 2018.
The cryptocurrency was seized by the police, said Kyodo. The Bitcoins were held by a Japanese doctor from Hokkaido and an executive living in Osaka Prefecture. Both of these men are accused of purchasing the stolen Bitcoins in the Coincheck hack.
Police confirmed that both of the accused knew the source of Bitcoins and they made the purchase at a discount. The officials used the Bitcoin tracking methods to track the cryptocurrency and find out the culprits.
The Coincheck hack was one of the largest hacks in history. Over $534 million worth of Bitcoins were stolen. The hackers and the stolen cryptocurrency being chased by the police and other investigators since then. Along with the Tokyo Police, there are 100 investigators involved.
The Tokyo police and other investigators are trying to find out other alleged buyers of the stolen cryptocurrency. Since it was difficult to track the hackers of Coincheck, investors are now focusing on the buyers of the digital asset.
Hackers were able to steal Bitcoins worth millions. The hacking was performed by perplexing the Coincheck’s system. The Bitcoins were trapped as tokens first. The hackers exchanged those tokens into the Litecoin and Bitcoin.
The entire amount was dispersed into 13,000 wallets. The crypto exchanges increased their security after this hack and maybe the hackers were not able to cash out the entire amount.
A huge number of Bitcoins were hacked in 2018 when the personal computers of Coincheck employees were infected by a virus. The virus entered into their systems via emails. The hackers then gained an access to the employees’ personal computers.
There were two viruses namely “Mokes” and “Netwire”. Both of these viruses were used by a Russian group of hackers. After this hack, Coincheck’s revenue dropped by 66% in 2018. But it soon started to rebound.
Coincheck also faced another data breach in June 2020. According to the exchange, there’s unauthorized access to the domain registration service of the platform. All in all, the Coincheck platform is not safe from hackers even after being exposed to a huge loss.