Man Sues Parents of Teens Who Hijacked Nearly $1M in Bitcoin

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When Colorado resident Andrew Schober downloaded the Electrum Atom Bitcoin wallet from Reddit, he also picked up a piece of clipboard hijacking malware that eventually redirected his 16.4552 Bitcoin to a wallet controlled by two teenagers living in the U.K.
 
At today’s price, 16.4552 Bitcoin would be worth ~$773,000.
 
After spending years and around $10,000 on experts to track down the threat actors, according to a new lawsuit filing (PDF) uploaded by Krebs On Security, Schober identified the culprits as Benedict Thompson and Oliver Read, now adults who are studying computer science. But because they were juveniles at the time of the alleged theft, Schober is suing their parents for the nearly $1 million he lost in the heist.
 
“The deployment of the Malware on Mr. Schober’s computer and the subsequent theft of Mr. Schober’s cryptocurrency was devastating for Mr. Schober,” the lawsuit said. “He did not eat or sleep for days afterward and has been in a severe state of distress for the past three years.”
 
The filing explained that the value of the cryptocurrency wallet accounted for around 95 percent of Schober’s net wealth.
 
“Mr. Schober brings this action to hold Defendants accountable for their violations of federal and state law, and to seek recovery for the grave financial and personal harm he suffered,” the suit added.

Read more: Man Sues Parents of Teens Who Hijacked Nearly $1M in Bitcoin