A Canadian teenager would have managed to steal almost $ 37 million in cryptocurrencies to an American victim, making it the largest cryptocurrency theft by a single person. The minor was taken into custody by police after being identified for purchasing a "weird" gaming username.
The investigation began in March 2020, when the victim reported being the subject of the mobile phone scam known as SIM swapping. With this technique, the scammer hijacks a mobile phone number to intercept two-factor authentication requests with which you access the victim's bank accounts.
During the arrest, police in Hamilton, near Toronto, seized the boy's cryptocurrencies. currently valued at over $ 5.5 million. According to the statement issued by the police, they managed to identify the teenager when some of the stolen cryptocurrency was spent on buying a "rare" online gambling username.
The identity and age of the minor, whose case is already in the hands of the courts, is unknown.
Bitcoin has its worst streak since May
The cryptocurrency is trailing for five consecutive days, registering declines. This Friday, the price has fallen more than 4%, to less than 57,200 dollars, thus standing 16.5% below its historical maximum, according to Bloomberg.
The fault of this bad streak is China. This week, China's National Reform and Development Commission, the country's main economic planning body, stated that cryptocurrencies are not issued "by the monetary authorities" and "are not real". Likewise, the agency has made it clear that its personal crusade to limit virtual currency mining is not over.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton also recently lashed out at cryptocurrencies. During the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Clinton warned that cryptocurrencies have power to undermine the role of the US dollar as a world reserve currency and destabilize entire nations.
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China hits cryptocurrencies again: bitcoin falls 7% and moves away from highs
