A man in Singapore has admitted to stealing over a million dollars in cryptocurrency after secretly taking a photo of a handwritten recovery phrase inside another person’s apartment.
The man, Teo Rong Xuan, formerly worked as a diver in the Singapore Armed Forces.
He faces charges for breaking into a home, misusing a computer system, and using stolen funds, according to court records shared on October 1.
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Teo had met the victim, a Chinese man living in Singapore, through a friend in 2022. At a gathering to watch a football match at the victim’s home, Teo managed to get a copy of the apartment’s access card by claiming to help another guest.
On December 31, 2022, Teo used the card to enter the apartment while the victim was not home. He found the piece of paper, took a photo of the phrase, and left.
The following day, he used that information to transfer $1.7 million worth of USDT
Investigators later found that Teo had used the stolen money on items like luxury watches, gambling websites, and to pay off his home loan. He also transferred around $1.1 million into his bank account after converting it into US dollars.
The theft was discovered after the victim noticed the missing funds. Blockchain tracking tools were used to trace the stolen cryptocurrency to Teo. He acted out of financial stress after losing money when crypto exchange FTX collapsed in 2022.
A Chinese woman, Zhimin Qian, was recently admitted to a UK court for holding and acquiring criminal property worth 61,000 Bitcoin
