A group of gamers may have stolen some crypto, but the details are sketchy.
According to an unsealed court filing in Chicago, a gaggle of gamers who met through Call of Duty, a first-person shooter with a major online gaming component, is suspected by the FBI of cryptocurrency theft totaling over $3 million, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Part of the theft involved $805,000 in reputation tokens, Augur’s cryptocurrency used for reporting and disputing event outcomes.
One group member, a man from Bloomington, Indiana, said he was forced to participate in the ring. Apparently, if he did not participate, the other hackers told the Bloomington man they would “SWAT” him, or call the police and falsely claim that a violent crime had occurred, therefore triggering a SWAT response. He considers himself a victim, noting that he “never once profited from anyone” through such “crypto-hacking.”
Another of the ring’s members, a man from Dolton, Illinois, had his house raided by the FBI on August 1. The FBI reportedly seized his computers and cellphones.
Although the FBI suspects the group of committing cryptocurrency theft, none of the gamers “have been charged with any crimes,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times report. Details of the group’s operations remain unclear.
Incidences of hacking and theft are common throughout the cryptospace. Last week, for instance, ETHNews noted that a North Korean hacking group had allegedly stolen $571 million in cryptocurrency from exchanges. A little earlier, on August 15, cryptocurrency investor Michael Terpin filed a complaint with the US District Court for the Central District of California alleging that telecommunications company AT&T failed to enforce its privacy policy, resulting in $24 million worth of cryptocurrency theft.
Daniel Putney is a full-time writer for ETHNews. He received his bachelor’s degree in English writing from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he also studied journalism and queer theory. In his free time, he writes poetry, plays the piano, and fangirls over fictional characters. He lives with his partner, three dogs, and two cats in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.
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