Meet one of the biggest crypto scams in history…
In August 2024, Malone Lam, a 20-year-old from Singapore, along with his associates, carried out one of the most audacious crypto thefts ever recorded.
They didn’t hack any system or exploit code. They simply made phone calls.
The victim was a Bitcoin holder in Washington D.C. who had accumulated over 4,100 BTC since 2014. At the time, the holdings were worth around $240 million.
The attackers impersonated Google support, convinced the victim to share his screen, and then called again pretending to be from Gemini. They claimed his account was compromised and instructed him to transfer all funds to a “secure wallet” immediately.
“I did it.”
With that, the victim transferred everything in a single transaction.
Later, a Discord voice chat was leaked, where the group could be heard celebrating:
“Oh my God, $243 million! We did it!” — complete chaos and disbelief.
The group originally met while playing Minecraft on faction servers. They started with small scams involving in-game items and chargebacks, then gradually escalated into larger frauds until they eventually hit the massive jackpot.
After becoming wealthy, they lived a luxury lifestyle — Lamborghinis, Miami mansions, $2 million watches, half a million dollar bar bills, private jets, and more.
However, the trail eventually caught up with them. Investigator ZachXBT helped uncover key evidence, and the FBI quickly connected the dots. Within weeks, the group was raided and charged, despite their attempts to hide within a broader network.
Most of the stolen Bitcoin was later confiscated.
