Five-Year Investigation Concludes: Dutch Man Sentenced to Four and a Half Years for Stealing Cryptocurrency

A man was recently sentenced to four and a half years in prison by a court in the southeast of England for stealing cryptocurrency. The incident, involving the theft of IOTA cryptocurrency worth nearly $2.7 million, occurred in early 2018 through a malicious website. The criminal was convicted and sentenced to prison five years later.

Crypto Crime: Lengthy Investigation

The Serious Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) in the southeast of the UK stated that in January 2018, a large amount of IOTA coins were found to have been transferred. Upon investigation, it was discovered that Dutchman Wybo Wiersma set up a malicious website, iotaseed.io, where users believed they were generating their own secure wallet private keys, but in reality, they were pre-prepared and leaked private keys. This scheme affected over a hundred people globally, resulting in losses of nearly $2.7 million.

The Dutchman was arrested in 2019, his equipment was seized, and he continued to be under investigation while on bail, residing in the Netherlands.

It wasn't until 2021 when he was extradited to the UK and appeared in court for trial. After the prosecution presented incriminating evidence, Wybo Wiersma finally pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.