Common on-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed on Friday {that a} sufferer misplaced over $282 million value of BTC and LTC on account of a {hardware} pockets social engineering rip-off.
The stolen funds have been transformed to Monero (XMR), which was among the many causes behind the asset’s large worth improve that started final week. The on-chain sleuth added {that a} massive portion of the swiped BTC was bridged to Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin by way of THORChain.
On January 10, 2026 at round 11 pm UTC a sufferer misplaced $282M+ value of LTC & BTC on account of a {hardware} pockets social engineering rip-off.
The attacker started changing the stolen LTC & BTC to Monero by way of a number of prompt exchanges inflicting the XMR worth to sharply improve.
BTC was additionally…
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 16, 2026
The crypto group was fast to select up THORChain’s posts on X. Some members blamed the platform’s social media crew for bragging about enabling and even “celebrating” crime.
Others outlined the risks of social engineering scams, which put even funds on {hardware} wallets in danger. Such scams are sometimes carried out by way of faux accounts impersonating a sexy girl who has instantly fallen for the sufferer, regardless that they’ve by no means met.
On the time of the occasion and earlier than the swaps to XMR started, the privateness coin traded at round $450. It exploded to consecutive all-time highs within the following days, with the most recent occurring on January 15 when it neared $800.
Since then, XMR has retraced closely, maybe because the attackers offloaded among the proceeds, and now sits beneath $630.
The submit Large {Hardware} Pockets Rip-off: Sufferer Loses $280M as Funds Transfer to Monero appeared first on CryptoPotato.