A trio of hackers in China have been arrested by police for stealing as much as 600 million yuan (approx. USD$87 million) in cryptocurrencies.
Authorities in the Shaanxi province capital of Xi’an first received a report from a Mr. Zhang on 30 March that his computer had been hacked, and cryptocurrencies with a market value running to as high as 100 million yuan had been stolen.
The scope of the theft drew the attention of the Shaanxi province authorities, as well as prompted Xi’an’s public security bureau to establish a specialist team to investigate the case.
According to a report from state-run media Xi’an authorities eventually identified a suspect following three months of investigation – a Mr. Zhou, who was subsequently discovered to be working closet with two other hackers – a Mr. Cui in Beijing and a Mr. Zhang in the Jilin province capital of Changchun.
The three suspects were apprehended on 15 August in a coordinated campaign conducted by police in Hunan, Changchun and Beijing.
According to Dang Kaijun (党凯军), vice-head of the Xi’an public security investigations bureau, all three suspects were “high-level hackers” who had previously worked in leading Chinese tech companies.
The suspected are alleged to have illegally gained access to the computer systems of companies and individuals to steal cryptocurrencies worth around 600 million yuan.
