Stolen crypto funds may come from Coincheck and UpBit hacks

The US government has added two Chinese citizens to the list of people accused of stealing money through cryptocurrencies for North Korea. The Office of Foreign Asset Control Office has accused Yinyin Tian and Juiadong Li of “harmful cyber activities”.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin made the following statement:

“The North Korean regime continued its widespread campaign of cyber attacks on financial institutions to steal funds. The United States will continue to protect the global financial system, empowering those who help North Korea to engage in cybercrime. “

The two Chinese citizens are accused of being part of the Lazarus Group. This is a group of hackers who have made several attacks on crypto exchanges.

According to a report released by the authorities, the two managed to steal over $ 250 million in cryptocurrencies. Of these, 100 million were washed through several exchanges.

So far, the authorities have been able to identify 113 crypto addresses used by the two.

Stolen crypto funds may come from Coincheck and UpBit hacks

The indictment claims that in 2018 “North Korean co-conspirators” stole cryptocurrencies worth $ 250 million from an exchange. The incident may refer to crypto funds stolen from the Coincheck hack. Tian Yinyin and Li Juiadong managed to wash $ 100 million worth of cryptocurrencies between December 2017 and April 2019 for their North Korean accomplices.

According to the documents, “North Korean co-conspirators” are also responsible for hacking a South Korean exchange in November 2019. In that incident, $ 48.5 million in cryptocurrencies was stolen. This may be a reference to the UpBit hack, from which ethereum was stolen in the same amount at that time.

According to the document, a total of $ 234 million was stolen in crypto. Including bitcoin, ether (ETH), zcash (ZEC), dogecoin (DOGE), XRP (XRP), litecoin (LTC) and classic ethereum (ETC).

The two accused sold part of the cryptocurrencies through an American exchange and a South Korean one.

According to the press release of the Ministry of Justice:

“The civil seizure complaint specifically names 113 digital currency accounts and addresses that were used by unnamed defendants and co-conspirators for money laundering. The confiscation complaint seeks to recover the funds, some of which have already been seized. ”