A strange but possible way of stealing the crypto assets from investors thieves in the UK found where they tried to use their mobile phones as per the reports.
Currently, the threat of security faced by cryptocurrency investors based in London on their holdings has come up in the form of a new type of brutal attack on crypto investments which has been surfacing. As per the reports by the Guardian, countless anonymous reports have been received by the London Police about victims seen to lose huge sums of money in Crypto after forcefully seizing their phones by muggers.
The thieves, while having knowledge that, unlike bank transfers, transactions in Crypto are irreversible, are targeting the digital assets investors who are unsuspecting on the street and steal their funds from digital wallets belonging to them after forcing them to bring their phones. In one such report, the victim tried to order a cab on Uber when the muggers forcefully asked them to hand over their phone. Although these thieves eventually returned their phone after the victim found out that his ETH worth £5,000, which is approx $6,170, was missing from his account on the Coinbase crypto exchange.
One more victim told the police that his phone and cards got pickpocketed after an evening when he was at a pub. Later he discovered that about £10,000 or $12,300 worth of Crypto got stolen from his crypto exchange account Crypto.Com. The victim also pointed out that while at the pub, he had logged into his crypto account and figured that thieves had seen him filling the credentials, including typing his account pin.
While speaking on the matter, Phill Ariss, head of the crypto team for the Council Cybercrime Program of the National Police Chief, said that police officers are currently receiving more training regarding how to get an understanding to identify various crypto-related crimes.
Further, Ariss urged the public to be cautious while accessing their crypto wallets, especially in public spaces. He said that people would not walk down the street while holding £50 notes and going on to count them, similar should apply to people while using the crypto assets.
Author of the famous book, Attack on the 50 Foot Blockchain, David Gerard, also emphasized that the number of crimes increases due to how some people handle their digital assets. He pointed out that people do not handle them the same way that they do with their other assets, including cash.
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2022/05/11/are-thieves-targeting-the-phones-of-investors-in-the-uk-to-steal-crypto/