A recent hack on Coins.ph, a Philippine-based crypto exchange platform, has allegedly caught its perpetrators whichare two Russian nationals responsible for stealing as much as $6.2 million in XRP. The Philippines' Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently charged these Russian individuals for their deceptive actions, claiming that the criminals tried to hide the trail by laundering the crypto to other platforms.
In this recent apprehension by the Philippines' DOJ, the country's judiciary system emphasized its commitment to pursuing cybercrimes and these kinds of attacks.
Philippines DOJ Charged 2 Russian Nationals in Alleged Crypto Hack
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The Philippines DOJ charged two Russian nationals, Vladimir Evgenevich Avdeev and Sergey Yaschuck, for their alleged violation of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, according to Bitcoin.com News. The pair allegedly accessed Coins.ph's systems and stole around 12.2 million in XRP worth 340 million Philippine pesos.
According to Philippines' Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla, the country is reiterating its commitment to upholding safety and security in cyberspace.
Coins.ph Hack: $6.2 Million in XRP Stolen by Former Consultants
It was noted in the report that Avdeev and Yaschuck were former consultants under Betur Inc. for Coins.ph.
At the time of the breach, the crypto exchange platform detected unusual activity and immediately investigated the incident. It was revealed by Coins.ph that the suspects were highly adept in the platform's network and security infrastructure.
The Philippines DOJ charged Avdeev with 23 counts of cybercrime while Yaschuck faces three counts. Both were given bail set at PHP 120,000 per count.
Crypto Hacks of 2024: Threat Actors on the Rise
The cryptocurrency industry is seeing massive issues in this day and age, and apart from the volatile prices on the market, it is also facing a significant problem with attacks on the blockchain and its users. It is known that in the first half of 2024 alone, the amount stolen by hackers already doubled to as much as $1.4 billion, and it is expected that more will be recorded before the year ends.
In May, the largest attack against the cryptocurrency industry took place against Japan's DMM Bitcoin crypto exchange platform where threat actors were able to take away 48 billion yen or $305 million in BTC. As much as 4,502.9 BTC was stolen by the hackers through an address poisoning scheme, and this is the second largest case in Japan next to 2018's $473 million on Coincheck.
The world is seeing its fair share of attacks against the crypto industry lately, and 2024 is close to a massive high of cryptocurrency hacks, beating previous years' numbers.
Coins.ph's XRP attack came from former consultants identified to be Russian nationals, and the Philippines DOJ is reiterating its commitment against cyberattacks amidst the growing cases worldwide.
