U.S. man, $3 million worth of XRP hacked…"Possible link to Cambodian organization"

Virtual assets have become mainstream… but hacking damage persists

A case occurred in which $3 million worth of XRP (XRP) was stolen from the Ellipal cold wallet of an individual investor living in North Carolina, USA. Although global interest in virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) is increasing, theft incidents still occur frequently.

According to Cryptopolitan on the 19th (local time), 54-year-old Brandon Laroque said on YouTube that on the 15th, 1,209,990 XRP he held in the Ellipal mobile app disappeared. He said, "It was the life savings my wife and I had accumulated," and "I hope my case becomes a lesson to other investors."

Ellipal said in a statement after the video was posted, "Internal investigation confirmed that the user entered the hardware wallet's seed phrase (seed phrase) into the mobile app, converting the cold wallet into a hot wallet," adding, "If the seed phrase is entered into the device, an internet connection occurs and security is compromised."

Laroque used the Ellipal application on an iPhone and an iPad; the iPhone app was used in cold wallet (blue background) mode, but the iPad was used in hot wallet (orange background) mode. Laroque criticized, "If users were supposed to distinguish security status by color differences, it should have been explained more clearly."

Meanwhile, the stolen funds were transferred to a broker's wallet linked to a Cambodian organization. On-chain sleuth ZachXBT said, "The stolen XRP was moved to the TRON network via the Bridgers service, and later transferred to an over-the-counter broker wallet related to Huione, an illicit money-laundering organization based in Cambodia." He added, "Since the stolen assets passed through multiple chains and OTC exchanges, recovery is unlikely," warning, "Beware of fake recovery services."