Security News > 2023 > August > North Korea may be itching to sell $40m of purloined Bitcoin

Lazarus Group, the infamous cryptocurrency thieves backed by North Korea, may try to liquidate a stash of stolen Bitcoin worth more than $40 million, according to the FBI. In an alert issued on Tuesday, agents said they tracked the purloined cryptocurrency over the past 24 hours.

Most recently, on June 22 Lazarus Group stole $60 million in virtual currency from Alphapo, which processes payments for gambling services.

On the same day, the thieves pocketed $37 million in cryptocurrency from CoinsPaid, and earlier that month they drained $100 million from Atomic Wallet accounts.

The North Korean gang was also behind last year's multi-million attacks on Harmony's Horizon bridge and Ronin Network, where they stole about $620 million in the largest-ever virtual currency heist.

Uncle Sam has previously put a $5 million bounty on information that helps disrupt North Korea's cryptocurrency theft, cyber-espionage, and other illicit state-backed activities.

In April, the Feds indicted three men for their roles in money-laundering conspiracies designed to channel ill-gotten cryptocurrency gains into North Korea's weapons programs.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/08/23/fbi_dprk_cyber_crooks/