Crypto
2 men from Miami and Los Angeles charged in $230 million cryptocurrency scam, FBI says
MIAMI — Two men from South Florida and California were arrested by the FBI this week for their alleged involvement in a nearly quarter-billion cryptocurrency scam.
In an indictment unsealed by the federal agency on Thursday, 20-year-old Malone Lam of Miami and 21-year-old Jeandiel Serrano of Los Angeles were charged with conspiracy to steal and launder over $230 million in cryptocurrency from a victim in Washington, D.C., the FBI shared in a statement.
Lam, a Singaporean citizen who went by the online monikers “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$”, and Serrano, who uses “VersaceGod” and “@SkidStar,” were arrested Wednesday night and appeared in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the Central District of California, respectively, on Thursday.
Videos shared on social media on Thursday showed federal authorities raiding a luxury home in Miami, where CBS News Miami confirmed it was part of the case.
According to the indictment, Lam, Serrano and others allegedly conspired to carry out crypto thefts and to launder the stolen cryptocurrencies through exchanges and mixing services. The conspirators would “fraudulently gain access to victim cryptocurrency accounts and then transfer victim funds into their possession,” the FBI stated.
The FBI stated that the alleged conspirators laundered the proceeds, including by moving the funds through various mixers and exchanges by using pass-through wallets, virtual private networks (VPNs) and “peel chains” — a technique used to launder a large amount of cryptocurrency through a lengthy series of minor transactions — to mask their identities.
According to the indictment, Lam and Serrano then allegedly spent the laundered crypto proceeds on international travel, nightclubs, luxury cars, watches, jewelry, designer handbags and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
In one instance on Aug. 18, Lam, Serrano and the others allegedly contacted a victim in D.C. and defrauded them of over 4,100 Bitcoin worth over $230 million at the time, the FBI stated.
The case is still under investigation.
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WESTLAKE, Ohio – A convenience store clerk at 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 26 alerted a police dispatcher that a female customer was feeding large amounts of cash into a cryptocurrency ATM at the store on Center Ridge Road at Dover Center Road.
The clerk said the customer would not believe the clerk’s warning that she was being scammed.
Officers arrived to find the 71-year-old still “anxiously depositing” cash into the machine. Officers told her to stop, but she did not believe the uniformed men. The officers talked to her for several minutes before she finally believed that there was an issue. She was still on the phone with the scammer at the time.
The incident started that morning when the victim received a pop-up message on her home computer instructing her to call a provided support phone number due to a supposed issue with the computer’s operating system. She called the number and was connected to a man who claimed he was a representative from Apple, according to a police department press release.
The man talked her into allowing him remote access to her computer while he asked for her bank information. The scammer talked the victim into believing that there was a problem with her accounts, and she was at risk of losing $18,000 in connection with pornographic websites out of China or Mexico.
She was connected to a fake fraud department for her bank, and another scammer persuaded her to go to a bank and withdraw as much cash as they would allow. The scammer even told her to give the teller a story about needing cash to buy a car. The perpetrator kept the woman on the phone as she took out cash and traveled to the crypto ATM. The victim had deposited approximately $5,500 before officers persuaded her to stop. The Westlake Detective Bureau is attempting to recover the lost funds.
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