Main UK Suspect in IOTA’s 2018 Hack Sentenced to 4.5 Years in Jail
A Dutch national living in Oxford, UK, was found guilty and sentenced to 4.5 years in jail for stealing more than $2.5 million in IOTA from several individuals worldwide.
The main suspect in the 2018 hack of several IOTA wallets across the globe has pleaded guilty to the theft on the second day of his trial. Consequently, he has been jailed for four and a half years after admitting that he stole an estimated $2.5 million in the IOTA cryptocurrency from several victims worldwide.
SEROCU, Hessen State Police and Europol Worked Together to Arrest the Suspect
The 40-year-old man, Wybo Wiersma, of Het Weike, Goredijk, the Netherlands, was sentenced on January 27th at Oxford Crown Court after a five-year investigation by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).
Detective Inspector Rob Bryant of SEROCU stated that in January 2018, following numerous reports of theft by IOTA owners, SEROCU, in collaboration with Germany’s Hessen State Police and Europol, started investigations into the loss of millions worth in IOTA from over 85 victims from across the globe.
‘For some people this had a devastating effect and meant losing significant amounts of money — their savings and businesses,’ he said. ‘Wiersma has now admitted his involvement and will have time to reflect upon his actions in prison. Meanwhile, SEROCU will use all available legislation to ensure that as much of the money seized from his cryptocurrency wallets is returned to its rightful owners.’
Wiersma Created a Website that Accessed IOTA Wallets
Wybo Wiersma managed to carry out his heist by creating a website, Iotaseed.io, that tricked users into creating 81-digit keys for their IOTA wallets while, at the same time, keeping records of them. He would then use the stolen keys to access the victim’s wallets and transfer IOTA to other wallets created using fake IDs.
Initially, an estimated $11 million was stolen by Wiersma. But the IOTA foundation, together with crypto exchanges, blocked the hacker’s accounts, resulting in the recovery of most of the funds stolen.
~By John P. Njui~
