[2023-11-01] BBC - Man convicted after cryptocurrency robbery

[pawel7777]

Fresh press hit from the UK, covering the conviction of the "technical" master-mind who apparently didn't realise that bitcoin transactions are traceable.

Man convicted after cryptocurrency robbery

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cw5w5zyg979o

A 28-year-old man from Lanarkshire has been convicted after having up to £1.2m worth of cryptocurrency in his account following a violent robbery.

John Ross D'Alfonso was described as the "technical" brains behind the crime - thought to be the first robbery in Scotland involving stolen cryptocurrency.

He had denied being part of the raid itself but was found guilty of reset, meaning he knowingly had something that was stolen and intended to keep it.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that three men went into a home in Blantyre in Lanarkshire and forced the homeowner to transfer his Bitcoin, a form of digital cash, to D'Alfonso's account.

The court was told that one of the men in the house was armed with a machete, and another repeatedly struck a woman on the head with a personalised Toblerone bar until it was covered in blood.

The three men then escaped in an expensive Audi car belonging to the homeowner after the cash was transferred.

The court heard that because of the unstable nature of the value of Bitcoin, it could have been worth anywhere between £100,000 and £1.2m when stolen on 18 March 2020.

[Ultegra134]

If I'm not mistaken, I remember reading a similar story here quite a long time ago, but it definitely wasn't this one, as it wasn't in the European Zone. Anyway, this goes along to prove that people don't actually know how cryptocurrencies work and that only a small number of people do. This weird combination of numbers and letters is indeed traceable, especially in Bitcoin. It doesn't mention in the article where the money was transferred, but I wouldn't be surprised if these nutjobs actually deposited it on a centralized exchange.

What's intriguing though is that the robbery took place in March 2020, and the robbers are now convicted after over 3.5 years. I'm wondering if it's due to a broken justice system or the complex nature of cryptocurrencies. Perhaps it wasn't easy to relate the stolen coins to the robbers and where they were ultimately deposited? Who knows?

[pawel7777]

What's intriguing though is that the robbery took place in March 2020, and the robbers are now convicted after over 3.5 years. I'm wondering if it's due to a broken justice system or the complex nature of cryptocurrencies. Perhaps it wasn't easy to relate the stolen coins to the robbers and where they were ultimately deposited? Who knows?

Probably a bit of both. Obviously the perpetrators haven't been caught red-handed. According to the police, more specifically, the Police Scotland’s Cyber Investigations unit, it was the first case of this sort in Scotland. But also UK police are not really famous for speedy investigations unless it's a high-profile case with a lot of media coverage, then they can act quickly. On top of that, going through the courts also takes time. Adding all together, 3.5 years is actually not that bad.

[Kakmakr]

Yea, it reminds me of Jimmy Zhong  (who stole 50,000 bitcoins from the Silk Road) and then lived a life of luxury with his spoils... until someone broke into his apartment and stole some of his money. He then reported this break-in to the authorities and that put the focus on him.

The authorities then tricked him into showing them his Bitcoin wallet and they then hired Blockchain experts to trace his coins back to the Silkroad hack.  

Jimmy Zhong was supposedly a clever hacker, but not clever enough not to be caught. Zhong are now serving a one-year sentence related to the theft of bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace.

[chmod755]

This is brutal.

Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/538/ (doesn't mean you shouldn't take cybersecurity seriously, because you can ALSO lose money online or if you lose your phone/laptop, etc.)

[pawel7777]

Yea, it reminds me of Jimmy Zhong  (who stole 50,000 bitcoins from the Silk Road) and then lived a life of luxury with his spoils... until someone broke into his apartment and stole some of his money. He then reported this break-in to the authorities and that put the focus on him.

The authorities then tricked him into showing them his Bitcoin wallet and they then hired Blockchain experts to trace his coins back to the Silkroad hack.  

Jimmy Zhong was supposedly a clever hacker, but not clever enough not to be caught. Zhong are now serving a one-year sentence related to the theft of bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace.

Nah, Jimmy is a completely different story. He didn't rob anyone and was not a violent person nor he was a smart hacker. All he did was exploit Silkroad bug that allowed him to withdraw more money than you deposited, you don't have to be a genius to do that. You could even argue if what he did was actually illegal.
The official story about how he got caught doesn't say anything about anyone breaking into his apartment. Apparently, he got careless and transferred unmixed portion of his stash into centralised exchange, which linked his coins to the blacklisted Silkroad hack wallet and notified authorities.

Hw only got one year in prison, which probably will do him good.