A 20-year-old Singaporean man, Malone Lam, was arrested on the night of Sep. 18 by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States for conspiring to steal and launder over US$230 million (S$296 million) in cryptocurrency from a person in Washington, D.C. The FBI’s press release on Sep. 19 stated that Lam and his accomplices used exchanges and mixing services to hide their identities and the trail of the stolen funds.
Background
According to the FBI, Lam, who uses the online aliases “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$”, was arrested alongside Jeandiel Serrano, a 21-year-old from Los Angeles, California. The FBI’s investigation revealed that Lam and his conspirators engaged in a sophisticated scheme to defraud a victim and launder the stolen cryptocurrency.
What happened
On Aug. 18, 2024, Lam and his conspirators contacted a victim and fraudulently obtained over 4,100 bitcoins, valued at over US$230 million (S$296 million) at that time. They gained access to the victim’s cryptocurrency accounts and transferred the funds into their own accounts. The stolen funds were then laundered through various mixers and exchanges using techniques such as “peel chains”, pass-through wallets, and virtual private networks (VPNs) to conceal their identities.
Splurged on luxury goods and services
The laundered money was allegedly spent on international travel, nightclubs, luxury automobiles, watches, jewellery, designer handbags, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami. Lam is scheduled to appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Sep. 20.
Online reactions and ongoing investigations
On X, user ZachXBT, who claims to be a scam survivor, posted extensively about Lam. He stated, “An investigation into how Greavys (Malone Lam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) stole $243M from a single person last month in a highly sophisticated social engineering attack and my efforts which have helped lead to multiple arrests and millions frozen.”
Investigations are currently ongoing.
