Cryptocurrency related crime is on a constant rise over the past few years. In the latest such hack in Turkey, the police authorities have stated that the hackers made use of the popular video game PUBG to communicate with each other. This hack, where an Istanbul-based company was attacked, resulted in close to $2.47 Million worth of cryptocurrencies being stolen.
The police raided the hackers and were able to recover a portion of the lost funds. So far, only $256,000 has been recovered. Reports from the local newspaper state that the police has not identified the company which has been affected by these criminals. 24 people have been arrested so far in connection with this crime.
The police investigations which led to the arrests of the 24 people took place across the provinces of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Afyonkarahisar, Bursa, Edirne, Bolu and Antalya. Out of the 24 detained, 2 people have been released by the police. 16 others have been released under conditions of judicial control.
Reports point out that the hackers stole large amounts of Bitcoin, Ether and XRP (Ripple). Investigation from the Istanbul cyber-crime authorities point out that the wallets of the firm were compromised by the hackers and then the funds from these wallets were sent across to other wallets.
PUBG used for Crypto-Crime!
While crypto-crime is getting rather common these days - what made this case quite unique was the modus operandi of the communication. The police has found out that hackers were making use of Player Unknown’s BattleGround (known popularly as PUBG) to communicate with each other. This is the first such known instance of communication over PUBG being used for criminal purposes.
In the past, hackers had resorted to other applications such as Telegram and Signal which offer high levels of encryption. The use of PUBG for orchestrating a cryptocurrency hack was unheard of until this incident in Turkey.
A Rise in Cryptocurrency-Related Crime
Incidents of cryptocurrency-related crime are rising in number these days. This includes a wide gamut of methods and attacks such as cryptojacking, ransomwares, malwares that change any copied wallet address to that of the hacker’s, fake calls as well as bigger, orchestrated hacking attacks such as the likes of breaking into exchanges and firms.
Earlier this year, we saw hundreds of thousands of Ethereum Classic (ETC) tokens being stolen via a 51% attack. A few weeks later, we saw hackers breaking through the Cryptopia cryptocurrency exchange, attacking it multiple times and stealing millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies.
Moreover, hackers are getting innovative too. As we saw with these Turkey hackers making use of PUBG mobile for communication, in other cases, hackers are making use of fake Wikipedia donations as well as infecting Torrent files to reach out to unsuspecting users!
Stay tuned with us at Cryptoground for more updates from the world of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology!