Two Russians Accused of Hacking Philippines-based Crypto Exchange Coins.ph

Two Russian men have been charged with stealing almost $6 million worth of XRP from the Philippines-based crypto exchange Coins.ph.

RBC reported that the Philippines’ Department of Justice (DOJ) filed cybercrime-related charges against the men, Vladimir Avdeev and Sergey Yaschuck, at the Taguig Regional Trial Court.

Men Used Insider Knowledge to Hack Crypto Exchange Coins.ph, Say Investigators

The DOJ said the men were previously employed as consultants at a platform managed by a firm named Betur.

The department said Avdeev and Yaschuck used insider knowledge to hack the trading platform’s networks.

The department said they made off with over 12 million XRP coins. The hack reportedly took place in October last year.

The DOJ filed 23 charges against Aydeev, with Yaschuck charged with three offenses.

A Coins.ph investigation concluded that the hackers had a thorough understanding of the platform’s network infrastructure, as well as its server systems.

XRP Moved From Exchange to Exchange, Says Department

Prosecutors said the duo tried to throw investigators off the scent by trading the coins for other tokens on a variety of platforms.

Investigators think the duo moved the coins onto other platforms as they tried to cover their tracks. These reportedly included OKX, WhiteBIT, SimpleSwap, and Fixed Float.

At the time, WhiteBIT said that it had blocked a number of XRP transfers from Coins.ph on the latter’s request. WhiteBIT said it had blocked a total of 445,000 “stolen XRP tokens.”

Investigators also said the two Russian men used the OrbitBridge cross-chain protocol. They allegedly used the protocol to “convert part of the stolen cryptocurrency into other assets.”

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— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) July 15, 2024

The alleged hackers also tried to move the stolen coins onto non-custodial exchanges, investigators explained.

The DOJ said that citizens primarily use the exchange to make crypto-powered remittances. XRP accounted for almost 11% of the total volume of coins traded on Coins.ph on July 15, per CoinGecko data.

1/4 So far in July 2024 more than $35M from the $305M DMM Bitcoin hack has been laundered to the online marketplace Huione Guarantee

It is suspected that Lazarus Group is behind the hack due to similarities in laundering techniques and off chain indicators. pic.twitter.com/g1ndlttBll

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 14, 2024

On July 14, internet sleuths said they had traced the $305 million hack of the Japanese trading platform DMM Bitcoin to the North Korea-based Lazarus Group.