In 2016, attacking crypto exchange Bitfinex, cyber hackers looted 1.2 lakh bitcoins, which at that time was worth $ 70 million (Rs 520 crore). Then the attention of the whole world went towards crypto hacking. Today, the value of those looted cryptocurrencies is $ 4.5 billion (about Rs 33,000 crore), beyond which all the world’s biggest bank robberies will prove to be dwarfed.
Authorities later arrested two individuals, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, in connection with this crypto robbery, who called themselves “serial entrepreneurs” focused on bitcoin technology. It is reminiscent of the time when famous bank robbers of the 18th and 19th centuries considered themselves to be ‘artists’ rather than dacoits.
The most bank robbery ever in the history of the world is believed to be the ‘Knightsbridge Security Deposit’ robbery in the year 1987. Bank robbers then robbed about $97 million from this deposit center located in London. This robbery was carried out by the famous Italian fraudster and thug Valerio Vicki.
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However, no bank robbery can match what Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did during the war with the US in 2003. Saddam Hussein’s son Qusay went to the country’s central bank with three big trucks just before the US military took over Baghdad. There he withdrew about $ 1 billion from the country’s central bank by showing a handwritten note of Saddam, so that this money would not fall into the hands of the invaders. However, later there were reports that the US Army had recovered this amount.
With the advent of cryptocurrencies, now the style of robbery has changed. Earlier robbery was a very risky and tireless act. There was even a danger of death if shot in it and the dacoits had to make a lot of effort to hide the amount of loot. The chances of the dacoity being successful were also very less and the ‘returns’ to the dacoits were less in comparison to these risks.
However, on the contrary, in today’s technology-based era, dacoity is now looking more beneficial. Obviously, it is much safer to break into a network than to break into a bank. For example, in February 2016, hackers robbed $80 million using the SWIFT network used by Bangladesh’s central bank for overseas payments.
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Neither bullet was fired nor anyone’s life was put at risk for this crores of rupees robbery. Perhaps the thief would have done this robbery by sitting comfortably in front of the computer at his home, that too without any physical exertion.
In the era of cryptocurrencies, there have been many cases where many investors themselves have handed over their hard earned money to crypto-criminals. One such case is in Turkey, where a 28-year-old man, Farooq Fatih Ozar, opened a crypto-exchange. People invested in crypto through its crypto-exchange, but a few months later the Central Bank of Turkey banned cryptocurrencies in their country. Farooq then fled abroad with around $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies from people on his platform.
The case of South Africa is even more interesting. There two brothers named Raees and Amir Qazi opened a crypto-exchange. People bought crypto worth $3.6 billion through him. Then one day suddenly both brothers said that their crypto-exchange has been hacked and all the money and crypto deposited in people’s wallets and accounts have been stolen. Since then there is no trace of the two brothers. The African government has been looking for these brothers for the last two years.
Some crypto scams have come to the fore in India as well. Bengaluru police arrested 25-year-old Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki last year on charges of cyber fraud, smuggling drugs through the dark web, theft of cryptocurrencies and even stealing money from the Karnataka government’s e-governance portal. There is also an allegation. It has been told that in the new era, robbery has also started happening in a new way.
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