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An Arizona man was arrested for stealing hundreds of thousands in crypto while pretending to be an Uber driver, police say.
Authorities in Scottsdale, Arizona arrested Nuruhussein Hussein, 40, Wednesday after he allegedly posed as an Uber driver and swiped $200,000 worth of cryptocurrency from passengers’ digital wallets. He now faces multiple felony charges including theft, fraud and money laundering.
In a joint effort with special agents from the United States Secret Service Phoenix Field Office, police uncovered a “cryptocurrency fraud scheme” from March through December in which the suspect impersonated a rideshare driver, picking up people who were waiting for rides they had called at a Scottsdale hotel.
Hussein then asked the unsuspecting passengers to use their phones to look up directions or connect to the app, police said. “While manipulating the unsuspecting victim’s phone the suspect transferred cryptocurrency from their digital wallet to his digital wallet,” Scottsdale Police said in a statement to The Independent.
At the time of his arrest, the value of the stolen cryptocurrency arrest was worth more than $200,000.
The case is still under investigation, police said.
Hussein is being held at Maricopa County jail with a $200,000 bond.
Prosecutors said at a Wednesday bond hearing that he was a flight risk because he often travels to Ethiopia, Fox10 reported.
They also asked for certain conditions to be placed on him, should he post bond, due to his “sophisticated” scheme.
“If Mr. Hussein is able to post bond, we’d ask for electronic monitoring, and I’d also ask for no use of the internet. Given that this was an extremely sophisticated electronic fraud, we do not want Mr. Hussein to potentially destroy further evidence if it exists,” a prosecutor said, according to the outlet.
