The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued a strong warning to cryptocurrency firms, urging them to thoroughly check blockchain data against wallets that have been responsible for stealing hundreds of millions worth of crypto.

The FBI further asserts that crypto stolen by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) TraderTraitor-affiliated actors this week might soon be turned to cash.

FBI Urges Quick Response By Crypto Firms

According to the August 22 statement, the FBI revealed that DPRK hackers recently transferred approximately $41.8 million USD in Bitcoin:

“The FBI investigation found the TraderTraitor-affiliated actors moved approximately 1,580 bitcoin from several cryptocurrency heists.”

The FBI’s warning lists the six crypto wallets where those funds are currently being held. The FBI suggests crypto firms check for these addresses in their blockchain data and stop any transactions linked to them.

In 2023 alone, hackers linked to DPRK’s TraderTraitor applications were responsible for multiple attacks.

On June 22, the hackers orchestrated the theft of $60 million in crypto from Alphapo and another $37 million theft from CoinsPaid.

Prior to this, on June 2, they managed to seize $100 million of crypto from Atomic Wallet. 

The DPRK groups responsible for TraderTraitor are the Lazarus Group and APT38. They conduct their activity through a series of malicious applications targeting crypto and blockchain entities.