Two Russians have been accused of stealing XRP worth nearly $6 million from Philippine cryptocurrency exchange Coins.ph.
RBC reported that the Philippines’ Department of Justice (DOJ) filed cybercrime charges against the men, Vladimir Avdeev and Sergey Yaschuck, at the Taguig Regional Trial Court.
According to investigators, the men used confidential knowledge to hack Crypto Exchange Coins.ph
The Justice Department reported that the men were previously employed as consultants on a platform managed by Betur. The department said Avdeev and Yaschuck used insider knowledge to hack into the trading platform’s network.
The department said it stole more than 12 million XRP coins. The hack reportedly took place last October. The Justice Department charged Aydeev with 23 counts and Yaschuck was charged with three counts.
An investigation by Coins.ph found that the hackers thoroughly understood the platform’s network infrastructure, as well as its server systems.
The department claims that XRP was moved from exchange to exchange
Prosecutors said the duo tried to confuse investigators by exchanging the coins for other tokens on different platforms. Investigators believe the duo moved the coins to other platforms in an attempt to cover their tracks. These were thought to include OKX, WhiteBIT, SimpleSwap and Fix Float.
WhiteBIT said at the time that it had blocked a number of XRP transfers from Coins.ph at the latter’s request. WhiteBIT said it had blocked a total of 445,000 “stolen XRP tokens.” Investigators also found that two Russians used the OrbitBridge cross-chain protocol. They allegedly used the protocol to “convert some of the stolen cryptocurrency into other assets.”
