A teen stole $243 million in Bitcoin and revealed his identity on livestream . Veer Chetal, a 19-year-old hacker, used social engineering techniques to steal the Bitcoin, but made the mistake of revealing his identity during a livestream .
In August 2024, a sophisticated social engineering attack resulted in the theft of approximately 4,100 BTC, valued at $243 million, from a single victim's account . The perpetrators, three self-taught hackers, successfully gained access to the victim's account using a series of deceptive tactics . The victim was initially targeted with a call pretending to be from Google support, which compromised their personal accounts . This was followed by a spoofed call from Gemini support, claiming the account had been hacked, convincing the victim to reset their 2-factor authentication (2FA) and transfer the funds to a compromised wallet . Concurrently, the victim was led to use AnyDesk to share their screen, leaking their Bitcoin private key .
The trio, consisting of Veer Chetal, Malone Lam, and Jeandiel Serrano, worked in unison to execute the scam . Chetal accessed the victim's Gmail and iCloud, Lam searched for personal information, and Serrano posed as a customer service representative . By the early hours of August 19, the trio had successfully drained the wallet . However, a series of mistakes would ultimately lead to their downfall .
ZachXBT, a former scam survivor turned blockchain investigator, played a crucial role in unmasking the hackers . The suspects made life easier for him by recording the entire event . ZachXBT posted a private recording of the live reaction from the thieves on X as they received 4,064 Bitcoin . This recording, along with tracking blockchain transactions, provided key clues for the investigation . Initial traces showed that the funds were split among the parties before being sent to more than 15 different exchanges, where the crypto was swapped multiple times between Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH), Monero (XMR), and Bitcoin . During the livestream, Chetal accidentally leaked his name, which was reinforced by accomplices referring to him as Veer on several recordings and chats .
Chetal faces charges of fraud and money laundering conspiracy . Furthermore, after being released on bond, he was re-arrested for a new $2 million crypto theft . Authorities confiscated a wide array of luxury items and tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from Chetal .