Wife Installs Secret CCTV Before Divorce, Steals Bitcoin Worth 350 Billion Won from Husband
Stole Bitcoin by Obtaining Wallet Password
A woman in the United Kingdom who was in the process of divorce has been sued for secretly photographing her husband’s cryptocurrency wallet password and taking a large amount of Bitcoin.
According to reports from British media such as the Daily Mail on March 16 (local time), businessman Ping Pai Yuen filed a lawsuit with the High Court against his wife, Fen Yong Li, and his sister-in-law. His wife is accused of secretly installing closed-circuit (CC) TV cameras in their home to learn the password for his cryptocurrency wallet.
The wife allegedly obtained the password and transferred Bitcoin from her husband’s wallet. The total number of missing Bitcoins is reported to be 2,323, which is currently valued at 180 million pounds (approximately 356 billion won).
The Bitcoin in question was stored in a “cold wallet,” which is a secure storage device kept offline and separated from the internet. The password was a six-digit PIN code. However, if someone knew the “seed phrase,” a master password consisting of 24 words, they could access the wallet from another device.
Yuen claims that in July 2023, he learned from his eldest daughter about his wife’s plan to steal the Bitcoin, and that he installed a recording device at home to secure evidence. The audio file he submitted is said to contain his wife’s voice saying, “Will I get caught for taking the Bitcoin?” as well as comments expressing concern about the possibility of being reported to the police for money laundering.
It is also known that Yuen’s wife, with help from her sister, transferred 71 of the stolen Bitcoins to another account. During this process, Yuen was arrested and convicted on charges of assault after confronting his wife. He also reported his wife for theft and she was arrested in December of the same year.
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British police searched Yuen’s home and found 10 cold wallets and 5 recovery seeds. However, his wife, who is currently living in Hong Kong, submitted a written statement firmly denying the charges, saying she knows nothing about the matter.
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