A 20-year-old Canadian stole 185 BTC. He is in prison now.

[Somegory]

Last month the US extradited 5 scammers online from my country, I love that this happened and I also don't like it because this is giving a bad name to the country, at the same time I believe that these guys have ruined so many people's life.

They don't just become wanted and the US funding them by all the power they have, before the UD can plan for extradition it means these guys have done alot of damages to the people of United States.

Every thieves got their days coming they say, if you don't stop crime life it will come hard at you like a dog that's been chased to an end of the road, it has to turn back and attack.

[Sanitough]

Stupid people steal money and blow it on fleeting experiences, then go back to having nothing.

These kind of people never learn the value of saving money, even though they have just scammed someone and are ostensibly "rich"

It's because they believe they can continue making money from scamming people or stealing bitcoins. And he was just a kid, he had the talent but the maturity to think properly was not there yet. But even in my case, if that was dirty money, I would not save it or invest it in a business, I would just spend it but I would make sure not to be as careless as him. But I know it will not happen to me since I don't have the hacking skills, and if I did I would use them the right way. 

[ovcijisir]

So he started scamming people in 2017. as a teenager and was arrested in 2026. So he was scamming people for 9 years while throwing money all around. I wonder why it took police so long to arrest him...

Also I wonder how did he convert all that stolen BTC to fiat, without triggering regulators and tax authorities.

[iBaba]

~~~

What surprises me most is how careless these guys become after making money through crime, they will be showing off their wealth buying very expensive cars and even bragging on the internet like no body can trace the source of their money. Sometimes I use to wonder if they don’t think that living a flashy lifestyle after stealing peoples bitcoin makes them more noticeable.

Honestly the saddest part is that some people lose their hard earned money because of these scams and I hope stories like this reminds people to be very careful about what they do and who they trust, especially when the person says he is from a wallet or support team.

[Queentoshi]

So he started scamming people in 2017. as a teenager and was arrested in 2026. So he was scamming people for 9 years while throwing money all around. I wonder why it took police so long to arrest him...

If he scammed people for 9 years before being caught, I say he has had a pretty successful run in scamming people has enjoyed himself enough. All criminals surely have a day they get caught, and that was just his time. He is a successful criminal, and for him to have survived that long shows he is good at what he does, maybe at the end of the day the authorities will absorb someone like him because an individual with his skill set can be very useful for the government.

Also I wonder how did he convert all that stolen BTC to fiat, without triggering regulators and tax authorities.

Young people who are into tech know a lot really, especially when they are among a network of other people who do the same thing as them, there is the free exchange of information among them.

[Odohu]

Stupid people steal money and blow it on fleeting experiences, then go back to having nothing.

These kind of people never learn the value of saving money, even though they have just scammed someone and are ostensibly "rich"

You cannot save what you do not genuinely earn that is how it is designed. If the money cost him something and was earned legitimately,  he will be prudent in spending it because he knew the sweat that went into earning that. As it was easily gotten, he felt he could get more over and over again which was where the statement "we are not done yet" came from.

There was one scammer/hacker called Hushpuppi from my country that was also living lavishly before he drew the attention of interpol and was arrested and jailed for 11 years in the US. You can read the full story here to see that it is always the same with most of those scmmers https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63542573

[PVequalNRT]

So he started scamming people in 2017. as a teenager and was arrested in 2026. So he was scamming people for 9 years while throwing money all around. I wonder why it took police so long to arrest him...

Also I wonder how did he convert all that stolen BTC to fiat, without triggering regulators and tax authorities.

We are looking at the time since he started scamming but I think we should look at when he started scamming. Bro was just 11 years old and he is this smart to steal from people. Where are the parents and how did they not notice their kid is stealing online at the age of 11, this is like he doesn't even have any parents and he grew into fraud without any parenting. How could he spend lavishly and the parents didn't caution him unless they benefit from the scam.

After all he has so done, there is nothing serious that he did with this money, it's about spending and womanizing and brag, now he will do the jail and spend the rest of his life behind bars.

[Big Dirams]

Stupid people steal money and blow it on fleeting experiences, then go back to having nothing.

These kind of people never learn the value of saving money, even though they have just scammed someone and are ostensibly "rich"

You cannot save what you do not genuinely earn that is how it is designed. If the money cost him something and was earned legitimately,  he will be prudent in spending it because he knew the sweat that went into earning that. As it was easily gotten, he felt he could get more over and over again which was where the statement "we are not done yet" came from.

There was one scammer/hacker called Hushpuppi from my country that was also living lavishly before he drew the attention of interpol and was arrested and jailed for 11 years in the US. You can read the full story here to see that it is always the same with most of those scmmers https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-63542573

Don’t mean to overstep on your reply about “You can not save what you do not genuinely earn”. At some point your sentence is right and it have it own meaning but this doesn’t applies to everyone man, many of us are very brilliant and very smart that even with the money we stole or either the money we earn genuinely we can take good care of it and spend it wisely and smartly without being ratted on by anyone or any agencies.
There are smart and brilliant individuals out there that have a high amount of illegal money in their possession but still they are making good advantage of it and they have been living for some years now without any problems. After all we do learn from others mistakes and tell me if any wise person with smart intentions would try to make mistakes like this when they are in this position and try to live ostentatiously.

[henmark]

So he started scamming people in 2017. as a teenager and was arrested in 2026. So he was scamming people for 9 years while throwing money all around. I wonder why it took police so long to arrest him...

If he scammed people for 9 years before being caught, I say he has had a pretty successful run in scamming people has enjoyed himself enough. All criminals surely have a day they get caught, and that was just his time. He is a successful criminal, and for him to have survived that long shows he is good at what he does, maybe at the end of the day the authorities will absorb someone like him because an individual with his skill set can be very useful for the government.

Reading the news, I think it says "Trenton Johnston was just 17 when he began scamming cryptocurrency holders in January 2024", so it is clear that he hasn't been doing that for 9 years. Plus, dude is 20 years old, so he would have been 11 years old if he started 9 years ago. So he was only 17 years old when he started in 2024, and he turned 20 now, when he got caught.

And 185 bitcoin was not the total sum of his scamming; it was a one-off deal. He scammed much more in total in the past 2-3 years. So those are the relevant information regarding the story. One more part: he got 25 months as well, which means, with good behaviour and time already served, he could be out in no time as well. Economic crimes in the USA are usually soft; it's not like other crimes; you do not serve a lot. Jordan Belfort stole hundreds of millions; he still got out quite early and is already making money.

[coupable]

Let's confess it, he has a talent, but he has abused it in the wrong way. I don't think two years and a month is a fair sentence for a teenager at his age. I might suggest more years in community service would be more appropriate, but never a jail. He looks immature because he went on a spending spree and drew attention to himself. The court should consider his naivety and the punishment can be much reasonnable that destroying his talents in years in prison with criminals.

People have their ability, even talent to different things but some people chose to go with a wrong and immoral way. They could succeed to exploit something, got some money even a fortune but their life after that won't become easy. Many hackers were identified, even arrested and imprisoned many years after hacks so it's general advice that if people have talent, let's try to use it a right way. It's better for their own life, for society and for their future too.

I don't know how that guy is deserved to be considered as naive, I really don't think so.

He is only twenty years old. Have you noticed how they noticed him and arrested him? He purchased expensive items that, unless he was descended from wealthy families, no one his age could afford. I am aware that he is older than eighteen, but this does not prove that he is mature enough to manage valuable assets or correctly exploit his talent. I'm not going to play the evil advocate, but I believe that rather than locking him up and destroying all of his talents, the legislation should take advantage of his talents. It seems more equitable to spend five years in social services rather than two years behind bars.

[Hypnosis00]

He is only twenty years old. Have you noticed how they noticed him and arrested him? He purchased expensive items that, unless he was descended from wealthy families, no one his age could afford. I am aware that he is older than eighteen, but this does not prove that he is mature enough to manage valuable assets or correctly exploit his talent. I'm not going to play the evil advocate, but I believe that rather than locking him up and destroying all of his talents, the legislation should take advantage of his talents. It seems more equitable to spend five years in social services rather than two years behind bars.

20 years old is not young enough to think that he is completely innocent. I believe he knows the consequences. But yeah, we don't know the story behind it or why he decided to do this. We may feel pity for him, but I think putting him in jail could help him learn from his mistakes. We can't tolerate this action, as the law should be fair to everyone regardless of their age.

I disagree that this is destroying his future but rather a way of correcting it. This is a reminder to everyone, and even to younger ones, that we don't commit evil things because all of these have corresponding punishments.