Canadian Teenager Executes Largest Cryptocurrency Theft

A Canadian teenager has been arrested for stealing cryptocurrency worth CAD 46 million (USD 36.5 million) from an American victim, marking the largest heist in the cryptocurrency field carried out by a single individual, according to police in Hamilton, near Toronto. The police stated that the victim was targeted through a phone scam known as SIM swapping, where a hacker hijacks a wireless customer’s phone number to intercept two-factor authentication requests and gain access to the victim's accounts. The Hamilton Police Department indicated that the arrest resulted from a joint investigation with the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service's Cyber Crimes Task Force. The police confiscated cryptocurrency currently valued at over CAD 7 million. In a statement, the police mentioned that some of the stolen cryptocurrency was used to purchase a "rare" online gaming username, which ultimately led investigators to uncover the identity of the account owner.