In Bengaluru, a CoinDCX engineer was arrested in connection with a major heist that saw $44 million go missing from the platform, involving potential social engineering tactics.
Circumstances of the Incident
The suspect, Rahul Agarwal, was an employee at CoinDCX. On July 19, at 2:37 am, someone used his credentials to transfer 1 USDT as a test run. By 9:40 am, hackers had siphoned ₹379 crore ($44 million) across six wallets.
The internal investigation revealed that Rahul's company laptop was compromised. He claimed he was unaware of the breach yet admitted to taking freelance gigs from unknown parties via WhatsApp calls.
CoinDCX's Response
CoinDCX CEO, Sumit Gupta, confirmed the incident and stated that media reports referencing their FIR with the Karnataka Police have surfaced. He noted that the breach seems to be a result of a "sophisticated social engineering attack".
The platform has also launched a "Recovery Bounty Programme", offering 25% of any retrieved funds as a reward.
Market Impact
Meanwhile, the global cryptocurrency market cap rose to $3.89 trillion. Bitcoin prices have surged by 30% in the last 30 days, while Ethereum gained 57%.
The CoinDCX incident underscores the need for improved security measures in the crypto industry and highlights the growing influence of social engineering tactics against such platforms.
