A hacking group known as CryptoCore is reportedly responsible for stealing over $200 million worth of cryptocurrency from exchanges. The group uses spear-phishing campaigns to attack trading platforms.

Australians have, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, lost over $14 million to cryptocurrency investment scams last year.

Those behind PlusToken, an alleged cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, have moved their $188 million ETH stash to various different addresses.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• CryptoCore Hacking Group Stole Over $200 Million from Crypto Exchanges
• Australians Lost Over $14 Million to Crypto Investment Scams Last Year
• $188 Million: PlusToken Moves Its ETH Stash for the First Time Since December

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,217.41 (-3.10%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $3.40 bn. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $232.13 (-4.28%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $1.07 bn. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 3,061.89 (-0.41%).

CryptoCore Hacking Group Stole Over $200 Million from Crypto Exchanges

A hacking group known as CryptoCore has reportedly pulled of various heists on cryptocurrency exchanges, stealing over $200 million worth of crypto since 2018. According to cybersecurity firm ClearSky, the hacking group is also known as “Dangerous Password” and “Leery Turtle” and targets exchanges using spear-phishing campaigns against employees and executives.

ClearSky’s report reads:

“The key goal of CryptoCore’s heists is to gain access to cryptocurrency exchanges’ wallets, be it general corporate wallets or wallets belonging to the exchange’s employees. For this kind of operation, the group begins with an extensive reconnaissance phase against the company, its executives, officers and IT personnel.”

The group has, according to the cybersecurity firm, been mostly targeting exchanges in the United States and Japan. IT isn’t clear where it’s based, but ClearSky believes it is linked to the East European region.

CryptoCore reportedly conducts its spear-phishing attacks by impersonating a high-ranking employee from the target organization or from an organization with connections to the targeted one.

Australians Lost Over $14 Million to Crypto Investment Scams Last Year

According to a report published by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australians lost over AU$ 21 million (around $14.5 million) last year to cryptocurrency investment scams, most of which were Ponzi schemes with nor real cryptos involved.

Australians also lost funds to cloud mining investment schemes in which blockchain network hashing power is sold to investors. The losses are four times larger than those reported in 2018. In its report, the ACCC revealed bitcoin and other payment methods “now make up the top three ways scammers receive money,” which makes it harder to recover the funds and identify the scammers.

"Scammers are shifting to more modern payment methods, which are often harder to trace than traditional ones. The anonymity of unregulated cryptocurrencies and other real-time payment channels impedes the ability to recover funds or identify scammers.”

Across all investment scams, a total of AU $61.8 million (about $42.8 million) were lost last year.

$188 Million: PlusToken Moves Its ETH Stash for the First Time Since December

PlusToken, an alleged Chinese cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, has moved its entire Ethereum stash of nearly 790,000 ETH for the first time since December 2019.  The funds were initially moved together in two transactions before those behind PlusToken split the funds across 150 different addresses.

The movements were likely made to throw off blockchain sleuths tracking the funds. The addresses the funds were sent to now can have anywhere between 100 ETH and 11,000 ETH in them. The transactions com days after PlusToken also moved its $67 million worth of EOS, and around $50 million worth of XRP.

The EOS it moved is still parked under a single address, while the XRP is seemingly being moved to cryptocurrency exchanges. It’s believed PlusToken sends the funds to over-the-counter (OTC) traders, who then cash them out on exchanges for them.

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