- Cryptocurrency hackers made off with over $100m worth of XRP last week, including funds from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s wallet.
- The hackers, linked with North Korea, distributed funds across several trading platforms according to internet sleuth ZachXBT.
- However, the operation went awry when the group forgot to add a destination tag when sending $121k worth of XRP to OKX.
The days of ‘crypto is a scam used by hackers’ media hysteria might be over.
But there’s no denying digital assets are still a primary target for hacking groups.
That said, it appears crypto’s innate complexity is a built-in safeguard, as a team of hackers linked with North Korea just proved.
And when we say ‘innate complexity’, we mean ‘including the equivalent of a memo on a bank transfer’.
Thanks to the incompetence of the hacking group, approximately US $121k (AU $193k) worth of XRP is now floating around the blockchain ether.
Related: Senator Lummis Puts Pressure on US Marshals’ To Defend its Record on Seized Bitcoin Management
Ripple Wallets Targeted by North Korean Hackers Lose Millions
Earlier in the week it was reported that over 200 million XRP tokens were stolen from various wallets.
The project’s co-founder, Chris Larsen, was personally targeted. Despite quickly catching onto the hack and freezing the related accounts, the hackers made out with hundreds of millions.
These assets were distributed among several trading platforms, including Binance, Kraken and OKX…
At least, so the hackers thought.
‘Clown of the Day’ Loses Hundreds of Thousands in Botched Transaction
Overnight, internet sleuth ZachXBT posted to his Telegram channel, informing followers of the ‘on-chain clown of the day’.
In what seems to be a linked move, approximately US $120k (AU $197k) worth of XRP was funneled to the OKX exchange.
Funnily enough, the hacking team failed to add a destination tag.
So basically, the hackers sent the XRP straight to the OKX exchange, but didn’t include which wallet the funds were destined for.
For those unfamiliar with Ripple this means the funds were not credited to any account as exchanges would not know who to credit the funds to.
Crypto ‘detective’ ZachXBTI suppose there is some merit to the saying ‘cheaters never prosper’. Especially when they don’t double-check their crypto transactions!
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