A Scottsdale, Arizona man has been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto from victims who thought he was an Uber driver. Prosecutors have called it “highly sophisticated electronic fraud,” and it’s a particularly sophisticated form of fraud that makes it sound unique in many ways.
Nurhussein Hussein, 40, allegedly took two unsuspecting Uber riders in Scottsdale—one in March and the other in October, according to Fox 10—by shouting their names on the street outside the hotel. It’s unclear how Hussein knew these people wanted rides and court documents don’t indicate how he did it or knew the victims would have crypto accounts, according to Fox 10, although the hotel makes sense as a wealthy target. for those who want to be picked up.
While the victims were in the car, Hussein allegedly received phone calls from the victims under false pretenses, including problems with his phone and the need to look something up and the need to connect to the Uber app, according to NBC. News. Hussein then proceeded to open the victim’s Coinbase account.
“While spoofing the unsuspecting victim’s phone, the suspect transferred cryptocurrency from a digital wallet to his digital wallet,” the police reportedly explained in a statement. And when one of the victims asked for his phone back, Hussein allegedly became mean and threatening.
“He made threats to one of the victims that they should freeze or something bad will happen, the victim believed that he had a gun, although he did not see the weapon at the time,” continued the court documents, according to Fox. 10.
Hussein was placed on $200,000 bond and banned from using the Internet. The judge also ordered electronic monitoring of his whereabouts and told him he needs to stay in Maricopa County, according to NBC News.
There appears to be a discrepancy between what police say publicly and what is contained in court documents, according to Fox 10. The Scottsdale Police Department alleges that Hussein stole more than $300,000 but court documents show that the theft was estimated at $223,000. It is not clear if there was a mistake in some way maybe due to crypto volatility. But we don’t know for sure.
The Scottsdale Police Department did not respond to emailed questions Friday. Gizmodo will update this post when we hear back.
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