Scammer who stole 4,100 Bitcoin appears in US court charged with wire fraud

Singaporean national Malone Lam has appeared in court in the United States after being charged for allegedly stealing over 4,100 BTC, currently valued at approximately $274 million, from a private investor in Washington, according to local media.

Lam, 20, and his co-conspirator, Jeandiel Serrano, 21, are accused of executing a sophisticated social engineering scheme that marks one of the largest crypto thefts from an individual in US history.

According to the unsealed indictment from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Lam and Serrano identified the victim as a high-net-worth crypto investor. They orchestrated unauthorized access to the victim’s Google account notifications, making it appear that security breaches originated from overseas. On August 18, they contacted the victim, impersonating Google support staff, and convinced him that his account had been compromised.

Gaining the victim’s trust, they obtained security codes to access his personal accounts. Lam allegedly accessed the victim’s OneDrive and Gmail accounts, locating sensitive crypto and records from the Gemini exchange. The conspirators then posed as Gemini security team members, persuading the victim to transfer approximately $3 million in crypto to a wallet under their control for supposed safekeeping.

Taking the scheme further, they instructed the victim to download a remote desktop application, granting them real-time access to his computer. This allowed them to extract private keys to over 4,100 BTC, effectively transferring the substantial holdings into their possession. Lam continued to search the victim’s accounts for additional information to facilitate the theft.

Court documents reveal that Lam and Serrano laundered the stolen funds through various crypto exchanges, rapidly converting them across digital assets like Litecoin, Ethereum, and Monero to obfuscate the transactions. Serrano created an account on the TradeOgre exchange without a VPN, depositing approximately $29 million worth of crypto. Records traced this account to an IP address registered at Serrano’s residence in Encino, California, a property rented for $47,500 monthly.

Lam reportedly went on an extravagant spending spree following the theft. Authorities observed him at nightclubs in Los Angeles and Miami, spending between $400,000 and $500,000 per night and attempting to pay in crypto. Receipts indicate a single night’s expenditure exceeding $569,000. He also amassed a…