Singapore Police Probe Tampered Ledger Wallets Sold at Retailers After S$3.5 Million in Losses

Singapore police are investigating tampered Ledger hardware wallets sold at local retailers after losses of about S$3.5 million were reported. Some devices were found to contain malicious components.

Cointelegraph reported on October 29 that the Singapore Police Force, in an advisory issued that day, said it had received at least two reports since September 10 involving tampered Ledger hardware wallets. The combined losses totaled about S$3.5 million. Police added that a preliminary investigation found malicious hardware components inside devices sold by some local retailers.

Suspected tampering has been reported at multiple sellers in Singapore. Mark Karpeles, the former chief executive officer of Mt. Gox, said a spy device was found in a Ledger Flex unit he bought at Singapore airport. Another user who bought a device from local IT retailer Challenger also alleged tampering and later received a replacement device from Ledger.

Problems involving tampered devices in Southeast Asia's distribution network became public on October 9, when reports emerged of losses tied to devices sold through Cryptobilis, an official Ledger reseller in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The latest police statement shows that in Singapore, loss reports had been filed about a month earlier.

On October 13, Ledger asked retailers in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Hong Kong to stop selling its devices. Singapore police are continuing the investigation in cooperation with Ledger.