"That's the saying don't steal, as clever as a squirrel jumps it eventually falls to the ground."
The Department of Justice (DOJ) of the Philippines has alleged that two Russian nationals fraudulently stole $6.2 million worth of the Ripple (XRP) cryptocurrency from a local digital asset exchange through a hack of the Coins.ph system.
According to the charges presented to the Regional Trial Court of Taguig, defendants Vladimir Evgenevich Avdeev and Sergey Yaschuck are accused of violating Republic Act No. 10175 which is the Cyber Crime Prevention Act 2012.
Working as consultants for Betur Inc-owned Coins.ph, the two defendants are suspected of breaking into the firm's computer system and then proceeded to steal a large amount of 12.2 million units of XRP tokens.
After observing unusual login activity, Coin.ph, a firm handling money transfers and foreign currency exchanges, discovered a security compromise and the suspect was found to fully understand the network infrastructure and security measures.
The streak, Justice Secretary Jesus Remulla on behalf of the DOJ has outlined the department's dedication to upholding the rule of law in cyberspace.
In addition to being the mandate of the DOJ to ensure that the Rule of Law is upheld at all times, Remulla also emphasized the importance of remaining vigilant and warning against the ever-evolving strategies of cybercriminals.
Reportedly, Avdeev who was charged with 23 charges was bailed at PHP120,000 per charge while Yaschuck was charged with three charges and his bail conditions were the same.
