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Two UK teenagers who study computer science stole 16.4 bitcoin from a US resident. The American spent several years investigating and suing the parents of the scammers.
In 2018, 16.4 bitcoins were stolen from Andrew Schober (approximately $ 770 thousand at the current exchange rate). After that, the American filed a lawsuit in the state of Colorado and spent about $ 10 thousand to pay for the services of experts in cryptocurrency transactions.
After three years of investigation, it turned out that the perpetrators were two underage British residents who are now studying computer science at the university.
Young hackers posted a link to Reddit with malware that allowed replacing the bitcoin payment address with another. The spyware was disguised as the Electrum Atom cryptocurrency wallet.
Initially, Schober sent a letter to the parents of the scammers asking them to return the money, the theft of which "had serious consequences for his life." But no one responded to this request and the American filed a new lawsuit.
The victim provided the court with all evidence of guilt, including data on how the stolen funds passed through cryptocurrency exchanges to two users in the UK. Andrew Schober also found reports that a few hours after the theft, one of the defendants posted a question on GitHub about gaining access to the private key of a Bitcoin address.
The parents of the accused responded to the lawsuit from the United States and did not dispute the statement that their children stole cryptocurrency from a citizen of another country. However, they stated that Schober was out of time to sue them.
“Plaintiff also cites federal legal basis for action, which is subject to a two-year statute of limitations. Since the plaintiff did not file a claim until May 21, 2021, three years and five months after the incident, his claims should be dismissed, ”the defendants' lawyer said recently.
Former US Justice Department attorney Mark Rush said the parents should be held accountable because Andrew Schober notified them of the crime committed by their children, to which they did not respond.
“Many of these crimes are committed by minors, and we do not have a good juvenile justice system that is well designed for civil and criminal prosecution of children,” Rush explained.
According to him, the investigation of crimes related to cryptocurrency is very expensive and there is no guarantee that these investments will pay off.
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