Austria Police Recover $9.3 Million in Crypto

The rate at which frauds and scams are being committed has grown significantly in the past few months; since the beginning of 2024, the cryptocurrency markets have lost over $1.2 billion in different types of scams, frauds and hacks. 

A recent information notes, the police department of Australia has seized more than $9 million in cryptocurrencies from a fraudulent communication application. Jay Je Yoon Jung, a man aged 32 years, was detained by the Australian Federal Police in the southern Sydney suburb of Narwee earlier this month. 

However, the official charged Jung with developing and administering a Ghost application. It is argued that the app was created to be “built solely for the criminal underworld” and used globally. 

On October 02, 2024, AFP said that approximately $9.3 million in cryptocurrency was seized after a specialist analyzed devices from Jung’s home and deciphered the ‘seed phrase’ needed to access his crypto account. 

It is crucial to note that the seized cryptocurrencies have been repositioned to AFP’s crypto storage. Following the action, the official of the police department said that the seizure occurred after authorities took possession of almost $2 million in cryptocurrency and properties last month. 

In a media appearance, the acting commander of the AFP, Scoot Raven, cited the department’s recent crackdown, emphasizing authorities’ potential to dismantle illicit operating projects with a considerable user base. 

Scott added, “Whether you have tried to hide them in real estate, cryptocurrency, or cash, we will identify your ill-gotten goods and take them away from you, leaving you with nothing.”

Recent Crypto Market News

CertiK, a known blockchain security firm, publicized its Web3 security report, Hack3d, for Q3 2024, citing that hackers stole over $750 million across 155 security incidents in Q3 2024. 

However, such an event saw a slight decline in Q3 2024, yet the stolen amount wiped out was 9.5% greater than the previous quarter. 

Earlier on October 01, 2024, Todayq noted that Bitwise filed a statutory trust named “Bitwise XRP ETF” with the state of Delaware’s Division of Corporations website. 

The broader crypto market has been plunging for the past 48 hours; experts say the surging tension between Iran and Israel has backed the sudden sellout and price decline. 

Iran has approximately $12 million cryptocurrency users till the beginning of this year, yet Israel has a comparatively small user base with a slow adoption rate.

Crypto Market Price Updates  

Until publishing, the fear and greed index was at 36, mirroring the fear sentiment in the market. The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $92.77B, which makes a 19.90% decrease. 

Bitcoin was trading at $61,134 after failing 1.25% intraday, and its trading volume reached $40,767,839,175 after dipping 19%. At the same time, Ethereum was trading at $2,341, lowering 4.25%; it also lost 8.04% of its trading price in the past seven days. 

Wormhole (W) tops the intraday gainers’ list as it reached $0.01699, adding 13.17%, followed by Flare (FLR) trading at $0.3424, Sui (SUI) at $1.95, rising 7.64%. When writing, the market capitalization was $2.13 trillion, dropping over 3.10% in 48 hours and declining 1.28% intraday.