A person pretending to be an Uber driver was arrested after allegedly stealing $300,000 value of cryptocurrency from two passengers in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Scottsdale Police Division claims that Nuruhussein Hussein onboarded the passengers in entrance of an area resort by posing because the Uber they’d ordered. He even went as far as to deal with them by identify, based on a current Fox10 Phoenix report.
The report doesn’t clarify how Hussein knew the passengers’ names or that they’d ordered Uber rides. The investigation remains to be ongoing.
With the passengers inside, he requested the alleged victims if he might borrow their telephone and claimed that his was damaged. In a single case, he provided to test the passenger’s Uber app to test why it indicated that the driving force had not but arrived on the pickup spot.
Telephone in hand, Hussein reportedly emptied the sufferer’s Coinbase accounts, transferring the funds to an handle he managed. When one of many passengers turned suspicious of his actions on their telephone, he allegedly advised them to “chill or one thing dangerous would occur.”
U.S. Secret Service brokers arrested Hussein on Dec. 11 and charged him with theft, fraud and cash laundering. Prosecutors requested—and obtained—a secured money bond set at $200,000. If he’s capable of pay for his launch, he’ll be topic to digital monitoring.
Hussein can also be barred from accessing the web or abroad journey attributable to issues that he might destroy proof or flee to Ethiopia—the place he ceaselessly travels. He’s scheduled to be again in courtroom on Dec. 18.
A GitHub repository maintained by cypherpunk Jameson Lopp lists 19 incidents of crypto robberies that befell offline everywhere in the world in 2024. It’s nearly stage with the 17 incidents reported in 2023, but in addition a serious lower in comparison with the 32 incidents listed in 2022.
Some current incidents embody the kidnapping of Dean Skurka, CEO of Toronto-based crypto agency WonderFi Applied sciences in November. Unknown suspects compelled Skurka right into a automobile throughout rush hour, demanding a $720,000 ransom for his launch—after which launched him after it was paid.
Additionally in November, a Ukrainian man turned the newest crypto holder to fall sufferer to a “$5 wrench assault” after being robbed of 250,000 in USDT. An area information outlet reported that he was restrained with cable ties in a resort and intimidated with weapons till he approved the switch.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
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