Crypto Scammer Returns Half of $34.7m in Stolen WBTC After Bounty Offered

A recent cryptocurrency scam involving a so-called address-poisoning phishing scheme saw the return of as much as 50 percent of the stolen Wrapped Bitcoin but as Ethereum.

This is because the victim offered a bounty to the scammer, where they would get 10 percent of the total stolen crypto, originally amounting to 1,155 WBTC or around $70.5 million.

Crypto Scammer Returns 50% of Stolen WBTC After Offered a Bounty

In a recent incident, a crypto scammer decided in good faith to return the stolen coins to the owner after launching a phishing scam against them, with as much as 50 percent or $34.7 million already back to the victim.

According to SlowMist, this was because the victim offered a 10 percent bounty to the scammer for the return of 90 percent of their Wrapped Bitcoin.

Last May 3, the threat actor successfully tricked the victim into sending 1,155 WBTC, and immediately, the threat actor converted it into 22,956 Ethereum (ETH) and distributed it to various accounts, still in ETH.

On May 10, the alert from PeckShield shared that the stolen funds were returned to the owner, but only half the original stolen coins, amounting to 11,446.87 ETH, were returned.

Crypto Scammer Gets 10% and a Way Out

This was because the victim posted a public callout to the threat actor on the blockchain (via Etherscan.io), promising that returning the stolen coins would reward them with a bounty (admin) of 10 percent of the total price.

This would amount to $7.05 million, and the victim walked away with 90 percent, or $63,450,000.

It also means a way out, as the victim claimed that they would not post this on Twitter (X), initially giving a deadline of May 6 at 10 AM UTC. However, as of this writing, it appears that the other 40 percent has not yet been returned to the owner.

Crypto Scams in the Industry

Crypto scams are common, as many are still searching for unknowing individuals who can be duped and tricked into various methods, including sending money to another account by the victims themselves or accessing their wallets.

In 2023, the crypto industry saw as much as $1.8 billion worth of holdings stolen by hackers, but this is significantly lower compared to 2022's $2.8 billion and 2021's $3.1 billion.

Hackers steal crypto in many ways, including phishing or malware attacks, tricking crypto investors, or creating apps that were made for theft.

Earlier this year, Google launched a landmark case against crypto scammers for the apps they launched via the Play Store, which all center on fake promises or deceitful investment campaigns.

However, there are still a lot of areas on the internet left unchecked where crypto scammers thrive, and they still get to launch their attacks through various methods that are hard to detect.

The good thing is that there is a way to track these, and the recent WBTC phishing victim used it to their advantage, proposing a whitehatting solution where there's a bounty for the return of his $70.5 million stolen coins.