An Australian woman has been sentenced to jail for at least two years over crypto theft. The 25-year old woman, according to a report in Information Age, stole over 100,000 ‘Ripple’ cryptocurrency in January 2018.
The theft was carried out after Kathryn Nguyen and an associate hacked into a 56-year-old man’s cryptocurrency account and swapped the two-factor authentication to her mobile phone.
News Corp reported that she transferred big amount of cryptocurrency to an overseas exchange where it was traded for bitcoin and shuffled into different wallets.
The heist took place when cryptocurrency was at a booming period. Following a police raid that was carried out at her place, they seized her computers, phones, and money.
Incidentally, she is the first Australian involved in crypto theft. No such cases has been heard of before.
Presiding judge Chris Craigie said it was difficult decision to sentence her to jail as she was a hard-working and generous personality, as told by her references.
“A common thread was the offender’s willingness to help others,” Craigie said.
“This takes on a different meaning in her willingly participating and assisting in a criminal enterprise.”
Meanwhile, Nguyen will be eligible for parole in October 2021.
