- Teen Hackers Steal 4,100 Bitcoin worth $243M Using Social Engineering Method
- A week after pulling the heist, the hackers kidnapped Veer Chetal’s parents in an attempt to extort a larger share of the stolen funds.
- By March 2025, five suspects had pleaded guilty and could face up to 1l5 years in prison.
The Bitcoin scam that started as an online theft, with a group of teenage hackers stealing $243 million worth of Bitcoin, has turned into something much more serious, like a real-life kidnapping in Connecticut.
The theft started on August 19, 2024, and was executed by three individuals: Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano). The trio targeted a single Genesis creditor, a cryptocurrency investor based in Washington, D.C. They carried out the heist using a complex social engineering scheme.
The attack started when one of the criminals placed a fake call and pretended to be someone from Google support. The criminal used a disguised number to gain the victim’s trust and access personal accounts. Shortly after, another call came from someone claiming to be from Gemini, one of the major crypto exchanges, warning the victim of a ‘supposed’ security breach.
Using this scare tactic, the criminals convinced the victim to reset two-factor authentication (2FA) and unknowingly transferred funds from their Gemini account to a wallet controlled by the hacker. After all of this, the hacker made a loss of 4,100 Bitcoin, worth $243 million at the time.
From Bitcoin Scam to Real-World Extortion
A week after the crypto theft, Veer Chetal’s parents, Sushil and Radhika, were forced into a van by armed men, tied up with duct tape, and driven off. Thankfully, there were nearby witnesses, including an off-duty FBI agent who helped the police track the van.
The couples were quickly released, and four out of the six kidnappers were caught within hours. The reason behind the attack was disturbing, as it is believed that Veer’s partners in the heist pressured him into giving up more of the stolen funds by using his parents as leverage.
That same evening, Greavys and Box were arrested, one during a SWAT raid in Miami and the other at LAX wearing a $500,000 watch. Veer was also taken in quietly and now faces federal charges. By March 2025, five of the six people involved in the kidnapping had admitted guilt, and there is a possibility that they could spend 15 years behind bars.
Authorities are still looking into others connected to the crypto scam, while a federal wallet now holds the recovered Bitcoin.
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