Arizona man accused of posing as Uber driver to steal $300,000: report
A man posing as an Uber driver in Scottsdale, Arizona has reportedly been arrested for allegedly stealing a combined $300,000 in crypto from two unsuspecting passengers.
According to a Dec. 12 report from Fox10 Phoenix, the Scottsdale Police Department said Noorhusen Hussain contacted victims waiting outside the W Hotel in Scottsdale in March and again in October under the name of ordering an Uber.
Authorities say Nurhusen Hussain picked up two victims outside the W Hotel in Scottsdale and took $300,000 in crypt. Source: Google
After getting into the car, Hussain asked to borrow the passenger's phone because the device was broken, he said. In the second case, Hussain questioned why the passengers indicated that the driver had not yet arrived to solve the problem of the Uber app.
Hussain used the passenger's phone to transfer their Coinbase accounts from phone to phone crypto and phone to cold storage. Court documents do not say how Hussain knew the names of passengers waiting for Uber.
Prosecutors said Hussain threatened one of the victims when they became suspicious, demanding they return their phones, telling them to “keep cool or something bad will happen.”
Hussain was arrested on Dec. 11 by Scottsdale detectives and special agents from the U.S. Secret Service on charges of theft, fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors have asked a judge to offer Hussain a $200,000 guaranteed cash bond and electronic monitoring if he can post bond. Officials say the investigation is ongoing.
Mr. Hussain, who was banned from using the internet and overseas travel, is said to travel frequently as the prosecutor successfully argued that “additional evidence” could be destroyed or the accused could flee to Ethiopia. Hussain will appear in court on December 18.
Related: ZachXBT Says Increase in Thieves Targeting Offline Cryptocurrency Traders
According to GitHub, there have been at least 19 offline crypto hacks in different countries in the past year, 17 in 2023 and 32 in 2021.
The online platform In 2014, an unknown caller allegedly attempted to extort 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC), worth $400,000 at the time, from computer scientist and cryptographer Hal Finney.
In the most recent incident on December 3rd, thieves in Melbourne, Australia drove through a mall window and made off with a Bitcoin ATM. Melbourne police later found the ATM open in the park and on fire.
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