Qld man charged over Bitcoin theft

A 21 year-old Queensland man who was charged with hacking US games developer Riot Games earlier this year has been charged again for stealing around $110,000 worth of Bitcoin during the attack.

The Kingaroy resident was arrested by the Queensland Police Service’s fraud and cyber crime division in mid-March after allegedly breaking into the network of the games development company.

Police allege the man used the data obtained in the attack to create a website offering paid access to the IP addresses of players in the company’s database, which Qld Police Detective Superintendent Brian Hay previously suggested would allow other players to facilitate denial-of-service attacks to interrupt opponents’ games.

The man also allegedly posted screenshots of the data on Riot Games’ Twitter account.

Queensland Police today said the man had been charged yesterday for a second time relating to the attack, this time with stealing a “substantial” amount of Bitcoin from the company.

“Yesterday, members of the cyber and identity crime group, part of the fraud and cyber crime group, with the assistance of Maryborough Police located the man at a Hervey Bay address,” the QPS said in a statement.

“Police will allege the man had possession of approximately $110,000 worth of Bitcoin (a digital currency) he allegedly obtained from these offences and will now be considered proceeds of crime.”

Police charged the man with tainted property as well as a breach of his bail. He will appear in a local magistrates court on July 24.

Hay told iTnews the force was expecting to see digital currency play a more significant role in serious crime.

He said the stolen Bitcoin - which was in its original form and had not been exchanged for Australian dollars - would be dealt with as any normal confiscation of criminal proceeds, meaning it would likely be banked into a trust account for the state.