S'porean man, 20, arrested by FBI, for conspiring to steal & launder over S$296 million in bitcoin

A 20-year-old Singaporean man, Malone Lam, was arrested on Sep. 18 night by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States for conspiring to steal and launder over US$230 million (S$296 million) in cryptocurrency from a person in Washington, D.C.

The FBI issued a press release on Sep. 19 stating that Lam and others conspired to steal and launder cryptocurrency through exchanges and mixing services to hide their identities and trail.

According to the FBI, Lam goes by the online monikers “Anne Hathaway” and “$$$”.

Lam was arrested alongside another man, Jeandiel Serrano, 21, from Los Angeles, California.

What happened

On Aug. 18, 2024 Lam and his conspirators contacted a victim, and through communication with the victim, they fraudulently obtained over 4,100 bitcoins worth over US$230 million (S$296 million) at that time, according to the FBI.

They did this by fraudulently gaining access to the victim's cryptocurrency accounts and then transferring the funds into their own accounts.

They allegedly laundered the proceeds, which involved moving the funds through various mixers and exchanges using “peel chains”, pass-through wallets, and virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask their true identities.

Splurged on luxury goods and services

Lam and his other conspirators would then allegedly spend the laundered money on international travel, nightclubs, luxury automobiles, watches, jewellery, designer handbags, and rental homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

Lam will appear in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Sep. 20.

On X, user ZachXBT, who claims to be a scam survivor, posted extensively on Lam.

1/ An investigation into how Greavys (Malone Iam), Wiz (Veer Chetal), and Box (Jeandiel Serrano) stole $243M from a single person last month in a highly sophisticated social engineering attack and my efforts which have helped lead to multiple arrests and millions frozen. pic.twitter.com/dcY1e9xsPd

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 19, 2024

Investigations are currently ongoing.

Top photos via X/ZachXBT and Canva