$282 million whale theft case investigation: hacker social engineering scams followed by cross-chain money laundering

YieldWhisperer · 2026-01-19T02:34:15+00:00

A major whale investor lost over $282 million worth of Bitcoin and Litecoin due to social engineering scams. Hackers used cross-chain bridging and mixing techniques to launder money, highlighting new security threats. Users are warned to double their security measures to prevent private key leaks.

YieldWhisperer

2026-01-19 02:34:15

Abstract generation in progress

【CoinPost】Another major case. A whale investor fell victim to social engineering scams, and their hardware wallet was directly compromised, with the asset loss reaching an astonishing scale—over $282 million combined in Litecoin and Bitcoin.

The timeline is locked at approximately 11:00 PM on January 10, 2026, UTC. On-chain data monitoring shows that the stolen funds were subsequently moved in batches by the hackers. About $63 million was transferred via a cross-chain bridge to an address starting with 0xF73, and then entered further mixing and money laundering processes.

According to the on-chain detective’s tracking results, this was not a simple one-time transfer. The hackers clearly planned the fund flow carefully, using cross-chain bridging to break single-chain traceability and increase law enforcement difficulty. This technique is becoming increasingly common in large-scale thefts—initial social engineering breaches the wallet defenses, followed by immediate cross-chain dispersal, and finally long-term concealment through mixers or scattered addresses.

For on-chain traders, this is yet another wake-up call. No matter how secure a hardware wallet is, once the private key or recovery phrase is exposed through social engineering, all cold storage becomes useless. Two-factor authentication, privacy settings, and information isolation—these basic precautions really cannot be skipped.

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LiquidationHunter

· 22h ago

Damn, another social engineering attack? Hardware wallets have been compromised, which shows this guy's defenses are really weak. Once again, a textbook example of cross-chain money laundering. Hackers' techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated. 280 million directly evaporated—that must hurt a lot.

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OneBlockAtATime

· 22h ago

It's the same old social engineering tactics... Hardware wallets can't even prevent it, which is really outrageous—2.82 billion just gone. Cross-chain money laundering is now everywhere, and with a set of mixers, it's basically impossible to trace.

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Rugman_Walking

· 22h ago

It's the same old social engineering tricks again; hardware wallets can't even prevent this... The cross-chain money laundering process is indeed slick, and after using a mixer, there's basically no chance.

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NFTDreamer

· 22h ago

Social engineering is truly incredible—can even break hardware wallets? 282 million directly lost, this method is becoming more professional and terrifying. --- Cross-chain transfers in a second, funds dispersed instantly, mixing services make it almost impossible to recover. --- It's another cross-chain bridge and decentralized address—hackers are turning money laundering into an art form. --- This whale too—how could they be fooled by social engineering... no matter how much money they have, it's useless. --- Watching on-chain data still flying, but the money has already vanished—it's truly helpless. --- Address 0xF73 is now definitely on the blacklist, but what's the use? --- Every time a big case like this happens, I think of that saying—your private key is your everything. --- Mixing services are really the hacker's best friend; law enforcement can't keep up no matter how strong they are.

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GasFeeCrier

· 22h ago

Both social engineering and cross-chain attacks—this combo is now standard... Hardware wallets have been compromised, indicating that the defenses have long been breached. Truly outrageous.

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