A man posing as an Uber driver has been arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, accused of stealing a total of $300,000 worth of cryptocurrency from two unsuspecting passengers.
According to a Dec. 12 report from Fox10 Phoenix, the Scottsdale Police Department said Nurhussein Hussein lured victims waiting outside the W Hotel in Scottsdale in March and October by calling them by name and posing as the Uber they had ordered. claimed.
Authorities allege that Noor Hussein Hussein kidnapped two victims outside the W Hotel in Scottsdale and stole $300,000 in cryptocurrency. Source: Google
After boarding the vehicle, Hussain asked to borrow the passenger’s cell phone because the passenger’s phone was broken, police said. In the second case, Hussein offered to fix an issue with the Uber app after passengers questioned why it said the driver hadn’t arrived yet.
Hussein then allegedly used the passenger’s phone to raid Coinbase accounts via phone-to-phone cryptocurrency transfers and phone transfers to cold storage. Court documents do not reveal how Hussein knew the names of passengers waiting for Uber.
According to prosecutors, Hussein threatened one of the victims when he became suspicious and demanded his phone back, saying, “If you don’t calm down, something bad will happen.”
Hussein was arrested Dec. 11 by Scottsdale detectives and U.S. Secret Service special agents on charges of theft, scheme to defraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors successfully petitioned the judge for $200,000 secured cash bail and electronic monitoring if Hussein could pay bail for his release. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
Hussein was also banned from using the internet and traveling abroad after prosecutors alleged there was a risk that “further evidence” would be destroyed or he would flee to Ethiopia, where the defendant frequently travels. Hussein is scheduled to return to court on December 18.
relevant: ZachXBT claims there has been an increase in thieves targeting cryptocurrency traders offline.
According to GitHub, at least 19 incidents of offline cryptocurrency theft were recorded across multiple countries last year, compared to 17 in 2023 and 32 in 2021.
The online platform lists a series of direct cryptocurrency thefts dating back to 2014, when an unknown sender attempted to extort 1,000 bitcoins (BTC), worth $400,000 at the time, from computer scientist and cryptographer Hal Finney.
In the most recent recorded incident, on December 3, thieves in Melbourne, Australia, drove a car through a shopping center window and used a Bitcoin ATM to make off. Melbourne police later found the ATM in the park open and on fire.
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