In a shocking event, the US government caught a person and said he hacked into a cryptocurrency exchange and stole $9 million. The expert may have started the scam as an ethical hack, but then he went wrong. The accusation says that the accused, Shakeeb Ahmed, used his knowledge of the field to scam the exchange and its users and steal a considerable amount. The report says that Ahmed worked as a senior security engineer for a foreign technology company. Still, it doesn’t say where he worked—however, information was found through his LinkedIn page that Amazon once worked with him. TechCrunch called the company, and a representative said he no longer works there.
According to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, “According to the indictment, Shakeeb Ahmed, who worked as a senior security engineer for an international technology company, used his knowledge to scam the exchange and its users and steal about $9 million in cryptocurrency.” We also say that he washed the stolen money through a series of complicated transfers on the blockchain, where he swapped cryptocurrencies, hopped between different crypto blockchains, and used foreign crypto exchanges, said US Attorney Damian Williams
A cybersecurity expert steals $9 million from a cryptocurrency exchange
Notably, the story did not say who this cyber attack was aimed at. But a report by CoinDesk showed that the date and amount stolen fit the attack on Crema Finance, a Solana-powered cryptocurrency exchange. The attack happened in July 2022, and the thief later gave back almost $8 million while keeping $1.7 million for himself.
The TechCrunch report also backed up the information from the DOJ prosecutor. The prosecutor said Ahmed “talked to the Crypto Exchange and decided to return all of the stolen funds except for $1.5 million if the Crypto Exchange agreed not to report the attack to law enforcement.”
In the world of cybersecurity, it is a normal thing to do. Criminals like this call themselves “white hats” and say they want to do good. After stealing a large amount, they could talk to the target and agree to give back 80–85% of the money they stole, keeping the rest as a “bounty” for finding the security hole if law enforcement is not called.
But it’s essential to remember that, as seen here, giving back some of the stolen money doesn’t mean criminal charges won’t be made, and prosecution won’t happen. Even if the bad guys want you to think it is, this is not safe hacking.