Задержан киберпреступник, причастный к краже $243 млн у кредитора Genesis Translation: Headline: Cybercriminal Arrested in Connection with $243 Million Theft from Genesis Lender

The police have reportedly apprehended a hacker linked to the theft of $243 million from a Genesis creditor, according to on-chain investigator ZachXBT.

ZachXBT stated, “British cybercriminal Danny/Meech, also known as Danish Zulfiqar (Khan), appears to have been detained by law enforcement, with his crypto assets seized.”

As evidence, ZachXBT pointed to an Ethereum address where around $18.58 million in cryptocurrency has been frozen. According to the expert, this wallet belongs to the suspect.

“The several addresses I have been monitoring that are associated with him have transferred funds to [this wallet] in a pattern typical of law enforcement confiscations,” the on-chain detective explained.

He also mentioned that Zulfiqar was “last known to be in Dubai,” suggesting that a search was conducted at his villa.

Other suspects have also been detained. ZachXBT noted the indirect confirmation of this from the fact that several of the hacker’s contacts “stopped communicating in recent days.”

At the time of this report, there had been no official statements from the Dubai police or UAE regulators. Additionally, local media have not provided any potentially relevant information regarding the hacker or his arrest.

ZachXBT is the author of an investigation into one of the most high-profile thefts in the crypto industry, which targeted a creditor of Genesis.

The fraudsters impersonated Google support, convincing the victim to disable two-factor authentication for their account on the Gemini exchange, and utilized special software to gain complete control of the victim’s device. Consequently, they obtained private keys and transferred 4,064 BTC through exchanges and mixers.

In September 2024, based on information provided by the expert, the FBI arrested three suspects using the aliases Greavys, Wiz, and Box (later identified as Malone Lam, Vir Chetal, and Jandiel Serrano). They were all gamers and self-taught hackers.

Since then, U.S. authorities have initiated a series of cases linked to the criminal group. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged two of its members with cryptocurrency fraud amounting to $230 million. It later emerged that law enforcement accused the fraudsters of orchestrating a scheme worth $263 million, which involved the theft of more than 4,100 BTC from Genesis.

According to the investigation, the stolen funds were spent on luxury cars, travels, and nightclubs.

It’s worth noting that in October, ZachXBT uncovered a scheme involving the theft of $3 million in XRP from the wallet of an elderly American.