How a 20-year-old Singaporean man stole over $230 million in crypto

Malone Lam, a 20-year-old Singaporean man who was previously arrested by the FBI over a conspiracy to steal and launder money, appeared in court on Oct. 23, with both prosecution and defense requesting 60 days to negotiate a plea deal to avoid a trial.

Lam and his co-conspirator, Jeandiel Serrano, 21, were previously charged with stealing over $230 million in cryptocurrency, which they used to fund a lavish lifestyle of international travel, luxury cars, jewelry, nightclubs and high-end rental properties in Los Angeles and Miami.

Court documents reveal how Lam and Serrano laid the groundwork through sophisticated social engineering, pretending to be Google support team members to send fake hack attempt alerts to the victims while using VPNs to disguise their locations. They convinced victims to share security codes to access their accounts, identify cryptocurrency exchange records and convince them to transfer their money to another crypto wallet controlled by Lam.

During a police interview, Lam reportedly admitted to carrying out additional cryptocurrency fraud schemes. He faces up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 per count for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

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