A Spanish Court has issued an order compelling a division within the country’s police to investigate the possible existence of “computer fraud” on the Bittrex cryptocurrency platform. The order was issued following the filing of a complaint by a Tenerife based Bittrex user who claims to have lost 1.3 BTC (or $58,000) that was stored on the exchange platform.
Cybercriminals Blamed
According to a Spanish media report, the unnamed user’s problems started when initial attempts to access his funds were unsuccessful. However, after gaining access some 48 hours later, the user reports that “the money had literally disappeared.” The user contacted representatives of Bittrex who then “attributed the theft to the actions of cybercriminals.”
Meanwhile, in its February 9 order, the Spanish Court says it wants law enforcement to carry out “a line of technological research that allows the author (of the theft) to be identified.” The court also wants “the Bittrex insurance company” to be involved in the investigation as well as to provide the appropriate insurance policy.
Bittrex Allegedly Culpable
In the meantime, the report also quotes an unnamed “expert” who lists and explains the possible charges facing Bittrex as a result of the user’s loss. In laying the blame for the theft at the door of Bittrex, the expert said:
Bittrex allowed four access attempts before the theft, on May 26, 2020, from different IP addresses, with different locations and with different operating systems, all inconsistent with what was used by the user until that moment and Bittrex did nothing to prevent it.
According to the expert, these “events occurred on three different days from France, Granada, Madrid and a town in Minnesota, in the United States.”
Meanwhile, the expert also notes that the cybercriminal(s) had “allegedly used a different operating system from that of the owner of the account.” This according to the expert “should have raised a red security flag for Bittrex.”
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