[2019-06-23]Report: Two Israeli Brothers Arrested for Hack of Bitfinex Crypto Ex

[Vladdirescu87]

Report: Two Israeli Brothers Arrested for Hack of Bitfinex Crypto Exchange

Two Israeli brothers have been arrested in connection with the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and other crypto-related phishing attacks, finance news outlet Finance Magnates reports on June 23.

An Israeli police spokesperson reportedly told Finance Magnates that Eli Gigi and his younger brother Assaf Gigi netted tens of millions of dollars. The two are suspected of being responsible for long-term systematic theft of cryptocurrencies by maliciously obtaining access to other users’ accounts.

The two allegedly created credential-stealing clones of major online cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets and sent links to those phishing sites on Telegram groups and other cryptocurrency-related communities. The two are also accused of being responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex hack, which saw multiple accounts being compromised.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/report-two-israeli-brothers-arrested-for-hack-of-bitfinex-crypto-exchange

[Harlot]

Without any more details on why they think that they are the prime suspect here I think that they might have the wrong persons arrested in the case. The news mentioned that the wallet they found was unexpectedly low compared to what they believe they have. If the transactions from that wallet lead them to nowhere then they won't have a strong case against them. It's either that or they are also working with others which explains why they only have that amount.

[carlfebz2]

@Vladdirescu87 Why posting already for Cointelegraph? Arent you the poster of such news with Coinidol? Sorry for out topic but this is just out of my curiosity.

Without any more details on why they think that they are the prime suspect here I think that they might have the wrong persons arrested in the case. The news mentioned that the wallet they found was unexpectedly low compared to what they believe they have. If the transactions from that wallet lead them to nowhere then they won't have a strong case against them. It's either that or they are also working with others which explains why they only have that amount.

Its all presumption but basing on what i have read those allegations doesn't really have strong evidence.

[gentlemand]

Meh. I thought this was regarding THE Bitfinex hack. Which was probably Bitfinex themselves anyway. Looks like these two were compromising accounts which any old cabbage can pull off.

[CryptoBry]

The two allegedly created credential-stealing clones of major online cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets and sent links to those phishing sites on Telegram groups and other cryptocurrency-related communities. The two are also accused of being responsible for the 2016 Bitfinex hack, which saw multiple accounts being compromised.

Hackers, phishers and scammers are now using the best technologies and strategies in order to victimize as many people and sites as possible with the aim of stealing as many coins and tokens as possible. I always feel that these people are always ahead in the game of security and intrusion. Good to know that some of them are eventually nabbed by law enforcers and bring them to the court to face the repercussions of what they had done. So aside from North Korea and Russia, there can be a growing hacking community also in Israel...the country also known to be technologically-advanced and security-conscious.

[Kakmakr]

The evidence against them looks weak, but I hope they caught the right people, because countries will have to take a strong stance on criminal activities like this. They will have to make an example of them to all the other criminals who think they can just take other people's money.

I am surprised that it might be Israeli hackers, because this looked like the work of Russian or North Korean hackers. In any way, the more people getting arrested for actions like this, will send a strong message out there to other criminals that wants to do the same thing. 

[Vladdirescu87]

@Vladdirescu87 Why posting already for Cointelegraph? Arent you the poster of such news with Coinidol? Sorry for out topic but this is just out of my curiosity.

Without any more details on why they think that they are the prime suspect here I think that they might have the wrong persons arrested in the case. The news mentioned that the wallet they found was unexpectedly low compared to what they believe they have. If the transactions from that wallet lead them to nowhere then they won't have a strong case against them. It's either that or they are also working with others which explains why they only have that amount.

Its all presumption but basing on what i have read those allegations doesn't really have strong evidence.

Why not? I used to work for Coinidol, but now i'm not. I'm not working for Cointelegraph either, but i like it much more.

[roosbit]

Meh. I thought this was regarding THE Bitfinex hack. Which was probably Bitfinex themselves anyway. Looks like these two were compromising accounts which any old cabbage can pull off.

It does sound like an easy operation but people now know of these scams which makes it difficult to pull off.

What's just surprising is If the brothers were able to pull all this and in the end get caught....how did they get sloppy after all this operation??? Maybe their lifestyle changed,they blew big bills and became person's of special interest in their community.....or someone sold them out?

[gentlemand]

https://www.zdnet.com/article/bitfinex-hackers-arrested-after-three-years/

This article is saying these two may well be THE Bitfinex hackers after all. The older one is a trained IDF cyber warrior. Cheeky fella. If it turns out to be true and some funds are recovered I wonder what happens to the money.

Then again this is probably typical crypto 'reporting' and utter rubbish.

[LeGaulois]

Without any more details on why they think that they are the prime suspect here I think that they might have the wrong persons arrested in the case. The news mentioned that the wallet they found was unexpectedly low compared to what they believe they have. If the transactions from that wallet lead them to nowhere then they won't have a strong case against them. It's either that or they are also working with others which explains why they only have that amount.

I don't think Police comes at your home just to drink the coffee, there is no coincidence =). If they got arrested it means they truly have something. Where is Bitfinex located? The US. justice could very well request to Israel their extradition to be judged in the United States and not in Israel. I know the country is a little famous to refuse extradition requests from other countries, But since the USA and Israel are like wife and husband... In this case, the prison sentence could be severe

@Vladdirescu87 Why posting already for Cointelegraph? Arent you the poster of such news with Coinidol? Sorry for out topic but this is just out of my curiosity.

He now spams cointelegraph and a new account is now used to spam CoinIdiot

[Sithara007]

Meh. I thought this was regarding THE Bitfinex hack. Which was probably Bitfinex themselves anyway. Looks like these two were compromising accounts which any old cabbage can pull off.

I am disappointed that the detained guys have nothing to do with the Bitfinex hack. But at the same time, I think that these guys should be send behind the bars. Enough evidence exists to prove that they created clones of the exchange sites and stole the login data using them, and then used this data to steal crypto-assets later. What they did was daylight robbery. The fact that they stole coins from exchange users and not directly from the exchange doesn't lessen the magnitude of their crimes to any degree.

[Slow death]

I'm going to tell a story that happens in my country.

In my country when there is a crime that generates a lot of noise in the press and people are annoyed by the lack of good results of the police, the police seem to it a month later saying that they have finally solved the case, they apprehend innocent people as if they were the criminals and this is for the press and people think that the police are working well.

Let's look at this news:

1 -) did not say how they hacked bitfinex

2 -) did not say what method they used to hack bitfinex

In February, Bitfinex announced that some of the stolen bitcoin – 27.66270285 – were returned after being retrieved by the U.S. government.

should explain more details about this story

edit

here's more details:



https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/exchange/two-israelis-arrested-for-phishing-fraud-bitfinex-hack/

[carlfebz2]

He now spams cointelegraph and a new account is now used to spam CoinIdiot

You believe on what he said above that he's now doing another thing because he do likes it? 

I'm going to tell a story that happens in my country.

In my country when there is a crime that generates a lot of noise in the press and people are annoyed by the lack of good results of the police, the police seem to it a month later saying that they have finally solved the case, they apprehend innocent people as if they were the criminals and this is for the press and people think that the police are working well.

Let's look at this news:

1 -) did not say how they hacked bitfinex

2 -) did not say what method they used to hack bitfinex

Im not surprised for these kind of scenario where innocent people is being accused for the sake of accomplishment or being used
for the sake on making some news.

[magneto]

I too initially thought that this was regarding the Bitfinex hack that involved hundreds of thousands of BTC. Apparently not.

An arrest in this case means virtually nothing, because that doesn't mean that the money stolen is now in the right hands. What matters is if Bitfinex gets reimbursed.

And even if bitfinex does get reimbursed, how are they going to compensate the victims? Will they even compensate the victims given the fact that they had no wrongdoing technically in this case, or will the funds be directly transferred to the victim's accounts if they file a lawsuit?

This just shows storing funds on exchanges is utterly stupid. You're essentially subjecting yourself to so much more risk.