coindesk.com
A 22-year-old Singaporean citizen pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C. district court to being the ringleader of an international cybercrime conspiracy that caused its victims more than $245 million in losses.
Malone Lam, a recent resident of Miami, was charged with running a group of fraudsters that used social engineering and home invasions to steal and launder cryptocurrency, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement on Tuesday.
Social engineering scams have become more common since then, and were the leading threat to crypto users in 2025, according to a report by crypto trading platform Whitebite. It found that nearly 41% of all crypto security incidents last year involved fraudsters stealing assets from people through fake investment offers or impersonation. These types of crimes, which are getting worse with AI, resulted in over $17 billion in losses last year, crypto analytics firm Chainalysis said earlier this year.
Malone “led an international network that preyed on victims through deception, invaded their privacy, and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency,” said Pirro.
Lam was arrested when he was 20, alongside Jeandiel Serrano, 21, of Los Angeles, in September 2024. He was originally charged with stealing more than 4,100 bitcoin.
Malone met his co-conspirators, based across several U.S. states and overseas, through online gaming platforms. He coordinated all the attacks, including online and home break-ins, the authorities alleged.
Lam, known as “Anne Hathaway,” “$$$,” and “King Greavy,” and his cronies led a life of luxury, including hiring private jets and bodyguards, as well as purchasing exotic vehicles worth up to $3.8 million.