Elderly U.S. Resident Falls Victim to $330M BTC Social Engineering Theft

An elderly United States resident has reportedly lost around $330 million in bitcoin (BTC). The latest theft is now one of the largest crypto hacks in history. According to a recent X post, blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed the exploit involved high-level social engineering strategies to breach the wallet’s security.

A Suspicious Transfer

On April 28, 2025, ZachXBT detected a suspicious transfer involving 3,520 BTC, which the bad actor laundered through more than six instant exchanges and converted into the privacy-focused crypto Monero. The swap was responsible for the 50% spike in XMP price.

Notably, on-chain data revealed that the victim had held more than 3,000 BTC since 2017, without engaging in any major transactions. Once the hacker stole the assets, the attacker swiftly employed a peel-chain laundering method, fragmenting the funds into smaller, more obscure portions to evade detection.

Similarly, an elderly Oklahoma woman was exploited for approximately $20,000. The 77-year-old, who has Parkinson’s disease and Multiple myeloma, noted that she received an email about a BTC transaction.

Furthermore, the elderly lady called the number in the email and stayed on the phone for roughly five hours. After claiming to be a federal agent, the scammer told the victim that her identity had been stolen and that she needed to withdraw her money to prevent it from being stolen. The bad actor instructed her not to tell her bank or her daughter.

Hacker Gains Unauthorized Access

Over the years, hacks and scams have increased, rendering victims hopeless and devastated. For instance, in 2024, the crypto industry suffered over $1.2 billion in losses with 154 hacks and scams. 

Notably, the theft reflected a 15% increase over the previous year, affecting both individuals and companies. Sometime last month, the AI-driven trading bot AIXBT suffered a security breach. The hack resulted in a loss of approximately $100,000 worth of ETH. 

The project reported that an unidentified hacker gained control of its internal dashboard, which gave it access to thousands of dollars in funds. This breach raised major security concerns, but the report stated that the theft did not affect the core systems or development.

Following the attack, users were asked to review their accounts and revoke any AIXBT permissions from their Ethereum wallets, even though Orxtb said the hack would not affect them.

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