Nham Hoang Khang, the hacker, was charged with extortion and sentenced by the city’s People’s Court on Friday.

Vietnam authorities have captured and sentenced a hacker who stole money and data from a local cryptocurrency exchange. The man, who was arrested and charged with extorting money from the owner of the trading platform, was ordered to return the money he misappropriated.

Vietnamese Court Jails Hacker for Attacking Cryptocurrency Exchange Website

A resident of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam has been given 10 years in prison for stealing 300 million Vietnamese dong (about $13,000) from a crypto entrepreneur whose coin trading site he subjected to cyberattacks.

Nham Hoang Khang, the hacker, was charged with extortion and sentenced on Friday by the city’s People’s Court, the English-language edition of the VN Express newspaper reported. He was also ordered to return the stolen money.

Major Highlights and Background

In 2018, the crypto exchange was established by Vu Ngoc Chau to connect potential crypto buyers and sellers, charging a fee for the transactions it facilitated. Users were required to open accounts, as well as to provide personal information, such as a phone number, an email address, and a copy of an identification document.

In October 2020, Khang used his phone to create multiple accounts on the platform. He had found out that the website, T-rex.exchange, had several vulnerabilities that could be exploited to obtain data and digital currency.

The following month, the hacker managed to gain control of a T-rex employee’s account and around 30,000 USDT. The team detected the unusual transactions and blocked the account to prevent further cryptocurrency trading.

Once he discovered that he no longer had access to the compromised account, Khang obtained the personal data of 29,000 customers, and created a large number of fake orders, while threatening more attacks.

He also demanded that they pay him $20,000, or else he would reveal that the exchange had been hacked. Chau, the owner, received multiple threats and eventually told his employees to send Khang 300 million dong. He filed a complaint with the police authorities in mid-2021.

In Vietnam, cryptocurrencies are not yet legalized or regulated. Despite its popularity among traders and investors, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain unrecognized as assets or means of payment by the State Bank of Vietnam and Vietnamese law.

It is worth remembering that, according to Chainalysis, Vietnam ranks first in cryptocurrency adoption worldwide, one of 19 emerging markets in its top 20. The United States is the only country among advanced economies to appear in the ranking, specifically, as number eight in 2021.

By Audy Castaneda

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