Crime has no age: a Canadian teenager perpetrates the largest cryptocurrency theft on a single person

A Canadian teenager would have managed to steal almost $ 37 million in cryptocurrencies to an American victim, making it the largest single person cryptocurrency theft. The minor was detained by the police after being identified when buying a “rare” gaming username.

The investigation began in March 2020, when the victim reported being the subject of the mobile phone scam known as SIM swapping. Using this technique, the scammer hijacks a mobile phone number to intercept two-factor authentication requests with which you access the victim’s bank accounts.

During the arrest, the police in Hamilton, near Toronto, seized the minor’s cryptocurrencies, currently valued at more than $ 5.5 million. According to the statement released by the police, they managed to identify the teenager when part of the stolen cryptocurrency was spent on buying a “rare” online gambling username.

The identity and age of the minor is unknown, whose case is already in the hands of the courts.

Bitcoin has its worst streak since May

The cryptocurrency drags five consecutive days registering falls. This Friday, the price has fallen more than 4%, to less than 57,200 dollars, thus standing 16.5% below its historical maximum, according to Bloomberg.

The fault of this bad streak is China. This week, China’s National Reform and Development Commission, the country’s main economic planning body, stated that cryptocurrencies are not issued “by monetary authorities” and “are not real”. Likewise, the body has made it clear that its personal crusade to limit the mining of virtual currencies has not ended.

Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has also recently lashed out at cryptocurrencies. During the Bloomberg New Economy Forum held in Singapore, Clinton has warned that cryptocurrencies have power to undermine the role of the US dollar as a world reserve currency and destabilize entire nations.