IDR 10 Trillion Account Hacked by Thieves Pretending to be Employees
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia –A fraud syndicate managed to hack crypto accounts worth US$659 million or around IDR 10 trillion throughout 2024. The method involved disguising themselves to deceive victims.
According to a joint report released by Japan, South Korea, and the United States (US), this fraudulent act was allegedly carried out by the Lazarus group which is linked to North Korea.
The method used social engineering and inserted malware called ‘TraderTraitero’ to launch the crypto theft.
In addition, the report also revealed that they infiltrated someone as an IT worker at a blockchain company. The goal is so that crypto theft can be called an insider threat.
“The United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea warn private sector entities, especially the blockchain and freelance work industries, to review all warnings and announcements to better inform cyber threat mitigation measures,” the statement said, quoted from Tech Crunch, Thursday (1/23/2025).
“In addition, it is necessary to reduce the risk by not employing North Korean IT workers,” the three governments said.
The report confirmed that North Korea was responsible for several attacks last year. For example, the theft of US$235 million (Rp 3.8 trillion) on Wazirx, India’s largest crypto exchange, which occurred in July.
So were other attacks from Japan’s DMM worth US$308 million (Rp 5 trillion), Upbit and Radiant Capital each for US$50 million (Rp 814 billion) and Rain Management for US$16.13 million (Rp 262.8 billion).
In a previous US report, it was estimated that North Korea managed to steal US$3 billion (Rp 48.8 trillion) in crypto between 2017-2023. The stolen money was said to fund a nuclear weapons program.
Meanwhile, other data revealed that hackers from North Korea were responsible for 61% of crypto thefts last year. The total that has been stolen is equivalent to US$1.34 billion (Rp 21.8 trillion).
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SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA
