Blockchain Match Systems forensics company Announce On Saturday, $68 million in stolen cryptocurrencies were recovered.
The robbery, which occurred on May 3, was dubbed the “Dust Attack.” The money was returned to the victim, thanks to the UAE-based Match Systems and cryptocurrency exchange Cryptex.net.
Crypto Whale lost $69.3 million in WBTC
The story, reported by crypto.news earlier this month, began when a cryptocurrency whale fell victim to an “address poisoning” attack, resulting in the theft of 1,155.28 WBTC.
This equated to a staggering $69.3 million at the time.
Blockchain data shows that initial attempts by the victim to establish contact with the attacker, even making an attractive 10% reward offer, were met with silence.
However, in an unexpected turn of events, on May 9, the attacker initiated contact, expressing his desire to communicate with the victim via Telegram.
According to Match Systems CEO Andrei Kotin, the victim sought his company's expertise to track and recover the money.
The breadcrumb trail left by the perpetrators of the robbery led to a series of complex transactions. The stolen funds are reportedly moving between different addresses to obscure their origins.
However, Match Systems investigators proved to be more than a match for their opponents, meticulously tracking the illicit flow of assets and gradually cracking down on the perpetrators.
The mystery remains
The company did not provide full details surrounding the recovery of the stolen funds. Furthermore, the sudden shift in the attacker's stance, from ignoring the victim's attempts to connect to actively seeking connection, has raised interesting questions within the cryptocurrency community.
Match Systems only reported that after an intense, week-long manhunt, it succeeded in recovering the stolen money and returning it to its rightful owner.
Despite the slight devaluation, which was attributed to the attacker converting WBTC to Ethereum (ETH), the victim is said to have recovered his entire lost fortune.
He urged victims to report the theft immediately
Address poisoning, a deceptive scam that mimics legitimate wallet addresses, poses a major threat to users' financial security.
According to Match Systems, the earlier victims of incidents such as address poisoning alerts specialists, the greater their chances of recovering their stolen funds.
The company estimates that the chances of asset recovery are up to 70% if victims report incidents within the first hour. The odds of a successful recovery drop to 60% if cases are reported within four hours; 50% when reported within the first 24 hours.
The chances of a successful outcome are lower, 20%, if you wait a month to report the incident.
