Bengaluru: In a new twist to the Bitcoin scam, an audio clip has surfaced in which two police officers are allegedly heard discussing the case involving hacker Srikrishna alias Sriki. One of them tells the other that big names at the ministers’ level are involved.
The person seeking information is purportedly a senior police officer and the other a junior staff member who is part of the investigation team probing the Bitcoin case. The caller asks about the transactions, and the man at the other refuses to reveal the names, saying he is not completely sure. When the officer insists, the junior staff member says it has happened at the ministers’ level in 2018. When asked if Home Minister’s (Chief Minister Bommai was the Home Minister then) name too figures in the list, the staff replies in the negative and says names of some IPS officers are there.
Meanwhile, quoting sources, local media said that Sriki could be a key “asset” for further leads into the rampant cryptocurrency and hacking scams in the country that may have national and international ramifications.
Srikri’s claims of hacking international websites and cryptocurrency exchanges are yet to be verified by Interpol.
Meanwhile, cryptocurrency trading platform Bitfinex, owned and operated by iFinex Inc, is reportedly in touch with Indian authorities in connection with the alleged scam.
"We’re in contact with the authorities regarding this case,” a senior PR manager of Bitfinex told local media.
In 2016, nearly 1.2 lakh bitcoins were stolen from Bitfinex. In his statement to Bengaluru police, a copy of which is part of the chargesheet, Sriki refers to Bitfinex in two places. In the first reference, he said he hacked into “Bitfinex or bitcentral around 2015”, “made around Rs 1.5 crore in bitcoins” and “spent it on hotel bills and helping friends”.
In the second reference, he stated: "Bitfinex was my first big bitcoin hack, the exchange was hacked twice and I was the first person to do so. The second instance was a simple spear-phishing attack which led to two Israeli hackers working for the army getting access to the computers of the employees.”
Sriki claims to have profited only by 2,000 bitcoins which he spent on his luxurious lifestyle. He was arrested in November last year under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act in a drug-related case. He had told the police that he used to buy drugs on the Darknet using cryptocurrency. But the scam took a political twist when the Congress dragged the name of Bommai into the case.
