Tokyo Bitcoin theft duo arrested by police – Yahoo Finance

Two men, both in their twenties, have been arrested by Tokyo police on computer fraud charges related to the theft of $700,000 (78 million yen) worth of Bitcoin.

According to the Japan Times, Yuto Onitsuka and his accomplice Takuma Sasaki have been charged with siphoning-off funds from a Tokyo-based crypto management firm that Onitsuka previously worked for.

Sasaki allegedly used Onitsukas credentials to access the companys Bitcoin wallets and transferred the BTC to his own accounts.

In total, just over $700,000 worth of Bitcoin was stolen, with some of the money being transferred to Sasakis bank directly which he then reportedly spent on travel and other personal items.

Allegedly, the two suspects had never met in person and had become known to each other through an online forum dedicated to digital currencies.

It is unclear how Sasaki convinced Onitsuka to give him the wallet details or to what extent Onitsuka benefited financially from the theft if at all.

Onitsuka had commented on the forum that he wanted to bankrupt the digital asset company he was working for as he was dissatisfied with his role in the company and disagreed with its management policies.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Departments cybercrime unit shared that the Bitcoin had been taken in one lump sum from the companys accounts on October 29 2018 which the suspects then allegedly cashed out via both Japanese and foreign exchanges.

The name of the crypto company involved in the theft has not been officially released.

Japanese authorities clamped down on crypto cases last year, and the countrys government still has a sceptical view of cryptocurrency as a whole.

As Coin Rivet reported in March 2019, a Japanese teenager was prosecuted for his role in the theft of 15 million worth of Bitcoin, around $134,000 at the time, which he stole from a crypto storage website called Monappy.

Likewise, in April last year, Japan tightened regulation on cryptocurrencies, officially making crypto assets legal property under the payment services act.

Earlier this month, Japans financial watchdog, the Financial Services Agency, announced that it would be cutting leverage on cryptocurrency trading products to just two times the traders margin amount in a bid to prevent losses.

You can read more about Japanese crypto news here.

The post Tokyo Bitcoin theft duo arrested by police appeared first on Coin Rivet.

Follow this link:
Tokyo Bitcoin theft duo arrested by police - Yahoo Finance