Australian woman arrested for alleged cryptocurrency theft worth AU$450,000

The world of cryptocurrencies keeps throwing surprises at us on a regular basis. Security has been a matter of repeated discussions and genuine concern as incidents of hacking and theft have become a recurring theme in the recent past. In yet another case of theft and illegal outreach, a Sydney-based woman has been arrested on charges of siphoning off nearly half a million-dollar worth of cryptocurrency. The arrest took place in the early hours of Thursday morning, as ZDNet reports.

The culprit, in this case, 23-year-old from Epping was caught by police from her home and this marked the culmination of a 10-month long search which started in January following a theft of 100,000 units of Ripple from an electronic account belonging to a man in his 50s.

"In January, detectives from the State Crime Command’s Cybercrime Squad established Strike Force Rostrevor to investigate the theft of 100,000 units of Ripple from an electronic account," NSW Police said after the arrest, as per reports by local media outlet 9News.

The incident took place in January when the victim noticed that something was fallacious with his account and it was nearly zero after he had been locked out of his account for nearly two days. He feared that his account might have been hacked.

At the time of the theft the total value of the cryptocurrency was around AU$450,000, but considering the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, the value has come down to AU$45,000 at the time of arrest.

According to the ZDNet report, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issued a warning earlier this year, urging people to err on the side of caution when it comes to the elusive cryptocurrency space after it revealed that over AU$50,000 was paid via Bitcoin to scammers last year claiming fake ATO tax debts.

"Scammers are constantly adapting their methods to maximize their chances of picking your pocket. Unfortunately, it was inevitable that scammers would target cryptocurrency given its current popularity and anonymity," Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson had said at the time.

See Also: Australia’s regulatory watchdog targets ICOs and crypto-funds

$50 million ICO stopped in its tracks by Australia’s financial watchdog

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