265,000 euros damage

IT specialist emptied his boss’s Bitcoin account

(Bild: REUTERS)

He pretended to be a good employee who was happy to help. But in reality, a 32-year-old from Linz is said to have played a nasty game with his boss. The IT expert initially helped the managing director buy bitcoins, but over time the employee emptied the account again and thus financed his life.

The managing director of a company from the Urfahr-Umgebung district filed a complaint in July 2023 about a serious fraud involving cryptocurrency. The complainant stated that he had given a total of eight transfers totaling EUR 265,000 to his 32-year-old consultant from Linz to invest in bitcoins. The 32-year-old initially supported the managing director with the investment by purchasing the bitcoins for the managing director via a Bitcoin Exchanger.

Hardware stored at the company
He also helped him to set up a hardware wallet. The entire sum invested was transferred to this hardware wallet. The hardware wallet was then stored on the premises of the victimized company. The 32-year-old from Linz enjoyed the full trust of the later victim. He also worked as an IT specialist for the victimized company and was therefore in the company's offices on several occasions. He also had access to the hardware wallet located there.

Financing an extravagant lifestyle
In the period from February 2023 to July 2023, there were inexplicable transfers of the bitcoins stored on the hardware wallet. The entire amount was withdrawn from the victim's wallet in several transactions. The Bitcoin consultant is believed to have exchanged the hardware wallet for another identical model during a visit to the office of the victimized company. He then sold the bitcoins and had the amounts paid out to his account to finance his extravagant lifestyle.

After a long time, mistrust grew
The managing director of the company was not yet suspicious of his Bitcoin advisor at this point. The man from Linz pretended to the managing director that he would help him find the lost bitcoins. The 32-year-old from Linz tried to explain to the manager that his hardware wallet had been hacked and that the bitcoins had been withdrawn as a result. It was only after further suspicious actions that the manager became suspicious and filed a complaint with the police.

Child pornographic content found
Following extensive investigations by the Hellmonsödt police station together with cybercrime investigators from the Urfahr-Umgebung district, it was possible to prove that the 32-year-old from Linz had stolen all the bitcoins stored on the hardware wallet. A house search was carried out at the defendant's home address. All IT-enabled devices were seized and subsequently analyzed by the district IT forensic expert. This analysis enabled further evidence to be secured. In addition, suspicious files with child pornography content were found on several of the 32-year-old Linzer's seized devices.