According to blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, the $3 million worth of XRP that was recently stolen from US investor Brandon LaRoque has already been laundered through OTC services associated with Huione Guarantee, a massive illicit marketplace in Southeast Asia that is known for handling ill-gotten funds that come from scams, human trafficking, and so on. Prior to that, the funds were consolidated into a single Tron address.
Earlier this week, LaRoque's YouTube video, in which he details the devastating loss, went semi-viral.
The investor revealed that he had been accumulating XRP for a total of eight years, only to lose all of his 1.2 million tokens to hackers.
The victim used an Ellipal wallet, mistakenly thinking that it was a cold wallet. However, it turned out the device was connected to the internet, which made it extremely vulnerable. "I thought I did all the things right," LaRoque said.
"About a year ago, I retired. My wife and I retired. We were planning on moving out to Las Vegas and buying a house...I don't know what we're going to do. I guess we're going to go back to work," he lamented in the video.
Ellipal stated that it was doing "everything possible" to assist the victim, adding that the massive theft happened due to the seed phrase being imported into the app.
"One lesson our industry needs to do better with is not confusing with products when you offer both custodial and non-custodial products," ZachXBT said.
ZachXBT believes that the odds of the victim getting his money back are rather low since crypto theft victims have limited access to law enforcement in the US.
The blockchain sleuth claims that victims have to contact competent people in the private sector as soon as possible. At the same time, they should steer clear of predatory recovery firms.