Aussie Officer Accused of 81 BTC Theft

An Aussie officer, William Wheatley is accused of destroying a Trezor hardware wallet containing 81.62 bitcoins seized during a drug raid.

An Aussie officer of the federal police force in Australia has been accused of destroying a Trezor hardware wallet that contained 81.62 bitcoins at a crime scene according to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) of Australia.

To make the allegation that he transferred the bitcoin into his own hands with the police relying on a software that tracks cryptocurrency transactions.

A recent report states that the Aussie Officer discovered the hardware wallet during a drug raid at a property. However, to access the wallet, the police had to wait almost three weeks to acquire approval from the court.

Nevertheless, when the wallet was accessed, there was no single bitcoin. This is because according to the allegations, the Aussie Officer William Wheatley transferred the bitcoin out immediately after the raid.

According to the allegations, the hardware wallet had 81.62 Bitcoin which was $309,000 at the time of the raid in 2019. On the other hand, at the time of this writing it is estimated to be worth around $4.2 million.

According to Detective Sergeant Deon Achtypis of the cybercrime squad, the authorities initially assumed that an accomplice of a criminal organization was responsible for the loss of Bitcoin.

The police also found a device containing the seed phrase in the hardware wallet. The seed phrase is a series of 12 to 24 random words that can be used to recover if the wallet is stolen or lost. This discovery sparked suspicion that the device contained the seed phrase.

Despite this, Achtypis is said to have discovered a connection to Wheatley following a thorough investigation of the IP addresses used to access the stolen Bitcoin using crypto trading software.

Software that tracks cryptographic transactions is being adopted by law enforcement agencies all around the world to combat illegal activities with digital assets.

In August 2023, the Canadian government announced that it had begun utilizing the Chainalysis Reactor software to assist in the tracking down of illegal cryptocurrency transactions.

Furthermore, advancements in the technology of crypto detective software technology are increasing the percentage of stolen cryptocurrency that is finally recovered.

In 2023 more than 600 large-scale crypto attacks resulted in the recovery of over $674 million according to a study published on January 29.

In the meantime, the Aussie Officer is arguing that he is innocent of the allegations that he used his position as a public officer to further his personal gain, theft and connection with the proceeds of his criminal activities.

Reportedly, the Aussie Officer is prepared to dispute the allegations brought against him concerning the stolen bitcoin from the Trezor wallet. This comes after Trezor admitted that the hack caused a security vulnerability that affected roughly 66,000 users due to the hack.

Individuals who have interacted with Trezor’s support team since December 2021 were alerted by the firm that there was a possibility that their data had been compromised as a result of the incident.