Bitcoin Bathtub Thief Jailed For 4 Years
A US district court has convicted Bitcoin bath thief, Gary Harmon, of stealing 713 Bitcoin (BTC) from a wallet owned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Ohio resident Gary Harmon, 31, cheated the IRS and siphoned away 713 Bitcoin. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sentenced Gary to four years in prison. The court also ordered him to surrender crypto and other property worth over $20 million.
Thief photographed in bathtub with cash
According to Bloomberg, after stealing Bitcoin (BTC), Harmon used 68 BTC as collateral for a $1.2 million loan. With the loan money, he treated himself to luxury such as an apartment in Cleveland.
IRS agents became suspicious after they saw a photo of Harmon stuck in a bathtub full of dollar bills.
How did he steal Bitcoin?
Gary Harmon is the brother of Larry Harmon, who was accused of laundering $311 million through crypto in 2021. BeInCrypto reported that Larry pleaded guilty in 2021 and surrendered 4,400 BTC.
A Trezor wallet containing Bitcoin was kept in an IRS safe deposit box. But during court hearings, Harmon* discovered that the government did not have the passphrase to access the device.
With this information, he gained access to the wallet and stole 713 Bitcoin.
Technically, Bitcoin is not stored in hardware wallets, but acts as a portal that allows users to access their BTC stored on the blockchain. The user can access Bitcoin from another hardware wallet with a seed phrase.
Crypto theft through email hacking
As the digital asset class grows in popularity, fraudsters are also finding new vulnerabilities to exploit and steal crypto from users. According to TechCrunch, scammers are gaining access to the email information of anyone with att.net, sbcglobal.net, bellsouth.net and other AT&T email addresses.
Hackers try to reset the password of a user’s centralized crypto exchange account via the email address. Once hackers gain access to the exchange account, they steal users’ funds.
TechCrunch reported that hackers stole $134,000 from a Coinbase user’s account.
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Disclaimer
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