Employees of IRA Financial Trust during the theft of $36 million from clients’ crypto-pension accounts were absent on the spot due to a false call to the police. This was reported by law enforcement officials to the victims, writes CoinDesk.
The incident occurred on February 15. On the forums on Reddit, hacking victims reported the transfer of their assets to the accounts of an unknown person.
Gemini Bitcoin exchange, a partner of the company, ruled out compromising the system and announced its readiness to assist in the investigation of the incident. Its representatives stressed that the proposed security measures are mandatory for all accounts and approved addresses.
Shortly before the event, officers responded to reports of an alleged “robbery” at the offices of the IRA Financial Trust.
“As soon as the employees returned to their workplaces, they found that the accounts had been hacked, and the funds on them began to be actively transferred to other addresses,” a police spokesman said.
IRA Financial Trust specialists managed to stop the malicious actions after a few minutes, but by that time the damage had already affected “hundreds of accounts”. The police said they disclosed this information because the IRA Financial Trust does not provide customers with details.
“We are currently actively investigating and working on a potential refund. In order to preserve its integrity, we cannot provide additional comments yet,” the company said.
According to the source of the publication, the case has now been transferred to the FBI’s cybercrime department.
Recall that on February 8, the US authorities detained Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan on charges of laundering 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex in 2016. The authorities announced the confiscation of $3.6 billion worth of bitcoins from the pair. They face up to 25 years in prison.
A week later, Morgan was released on $3 million bail.
Earlier, journalist Laura Shin announced the involvement of the ex-co-founder and