Wybbo Wiersma Jailed For Stealing $2.5 Million Crypto

Key Points:

• Wybbo Wirsma, a Dutch immigrant to the UK, was the subject of a five-year inquiry before pleading guilty in an Oxford court.
• The investigation involved more than 100 victims worldwide.

The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) said on Friday that Wybbo Wiersma, a citizen of the Netherlands, was sentenced to four years and six months in prison after admitting to stealing more than £2 million (about $2.5 million) in cryptocurrency for four years and six months in prison.

Wybo Wiersma of Het Weike, Goredijk, the Netherlands, was convicted on January 27 at Oxford Crown Court following a five-year investigation by the SEROCU.

After a five-year investigation, it was discovered that these seed words were not selected at random. As a result, users quickly saw that IOTA had been taken from their accounts.

Wiersma set up a website under a pseudonym where he generated an 81-character code that he used to steal IOTA tokens from users around the world. The investigation involved more than 100 victims worldwide.

Detective Inspector Rob Bryant of SEROCU said:

“On 19 January 2018 and in the days that followed, there were numerous reports of the theft of Iota tokens from the owners. For some people this had a devastating effect and meant losing significant amounts of money – their savings and businesses.

SEROCU took on this highly complex and intricate investigation from police in Germany – Hesse State Criminal Police – Cybercrime Investigations team, which I would like to thank for working in collaboration with us. I would also like to thank the Crown Prosecution Service and Europol for their assistance.

Wiersma has now admitted his involvement and will have time to reflect upon his actions in prison. Meanwhile SEROCU will use all available legislation to ensure that as much of the money seized from his cryptocurrency wallets is returned to its rightful owners.”

The judge issued a confiscation order for £2,156,000 and ordered the defendant to forfeit all of his digital equipment that had been taken by the court.

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