How a police officer stole 50 BTC from a seized crypto wallet and got caught
A police officer’s 50-BTC theft was unraveled by blockchain tracking. Investigators traced the funds and brought him to justice.
In a major breach of trust within UK law enforcement, Paul Chowles, a National Crime Agency (NCA) officer, stole 50 Bitcoin (BTC) from a seized wallet connected to Thomas White, an operator of Silk Road 2.0.
The theft occurred in 2017 when the cryptocurrency was valued at a total of approximately 60,000 British pounds (around $79,000). By the time Chowles was caught, the crypto’s value had surged to over 4.4 million pounds (around $5.9 million). The 42-year-old officer from Bristol used the dark web and crypto-mixing services to split the stolen Bitcoin into smaller amounts, transferring them through crypto exchanges and prepaid cards to conceal their source.
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