The Hong Kong Police Cybercrime Unit has announced the arrest of three suspects in stealing cryptocurrencies using cryptomats.
Two cryptocurrency exchanges have filed a statement with Hong Kong police. Scammers exploiting vulnerabilities in crypto ATMs were able to steal 230,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $ 30,000). In total, 11 such transactions were detected in 6 cryptomats.
According to Wilson Tam, head of the cybercrime division of the Hong Kong police, the authorities will deliberately not disclose details about the vulnerabilities in cryptomats and how to use them. However, the police believe that those arrested were part of a larger organized criminal group.
“We have already provided advice to ATM owners on how to close vulnerabilities. This is the first time we have encountered a scam related to crypto ATMs, ”Tam said.
According to Coinatmradar, there are currently 56 ATMs in Hong Kong, mostly owned by Coinhere. Five more such devices are owned by HK Bitcoin ATM. There are over 9,000 crypto ATMs in the world.
In July, it was reported that the cryptocurrency machine operator Herocoin was indicted and subsequently pleaded guilty to laundering $ 25 million.
Crypto is lucrative now.