Ontario Teen Gets Busted After Allegedly Stealing $46M In Crypto Using A Wild Hack

It's not uncommon to hear of an Ontario teen who has been arrested for shoplifting. But to come across a young person accused of stealing millions of dollars using a complicated cryptocurrency hack — well, that's unique.

Hamilton police reported on Wednesday they had arrested and charged a local youth for stealing a whopping CA$46 million of cryptocurrency from a victim located in the U.S.

"The victim had been targeted by a SIM swap attack, a method of hijacking valuable accounts by manipulating cellular network employees to duplicate phone numbers so threat actors can intercept two-factor authorization requests," an excerpt from the report reads.

The suspect, who was arrested for theft over $5,000 and possession of property or proceeds of property obtained by crime, was tracked down by investigators after using some of the funds to purchase an online username that is considered "rare in the gaming community."

Hamilton Police seized multiple pots of cryptocurrency that are valued to be worth more than CA$7 million today.

The investigation, which was assisted by the FBI and the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, led to the bust of the biggest cryptocurrency theft reported from one person.