coindesk.com
16 January 2026 20:34, UTC
A hacker stole $282 million worth of $LTC$74.11 and bitcoin $BTC$95,086.72 following a hardware wallet social-engineering attack, according to blockchain researcher ZachXBT.
The victim lost 2.05 million $LTC and 1,459 $BTC, with the loot swiftly being swapped for privacy coin monero $XMR$634.06 through multiple instant exchanges.
A portion of the bitcoin was also bridged to Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin via Thorchain, ZachXBT added. He said North Korean hackers were not involved.
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The hack occurred on Jan. 10 at 23:00 UTC, sparking a 70% rise in the price of $XMR over the subsequent four days.
It remains unclear whether the victim was a sole crypto holder or a company, but it follows a 2025 trend that puts social engineering as the top attack vector for hackers. A social engineering attack typically involves posing as an employee of a company and securing the trust of a victim before persuading them to send sensitive information, such as a private key or login details.
On Jan. 5, hardware wallet provider Ledger suffered a data leak stemming from unauthorized access to Ledger users' personal details like names and contact information.
