It could have been the perfect crime: Hackers have succeeded in the past few daysto steal crypto money worth around 600 million US dollars (EUR 510 million) through a security hole in the system of the crypto service provider Poly Network.
But after the theft, the hackers encountered a problem that they had apparently not considered beforehand: They couldn’t get the money. The blockchain technology, which makes cryptocurrencies possible in the first place, also allows precise tracking of all financial transactions. In this way, other crypto trading venues can exactly understand when part of the money is paid out – and provide the investigative authorities with valuable information about the identity of the hackers.
Poly Network therefore asked the hackers via Twitter to return their loot. And now that’s exactly what happened. On Thursday morning, the hackers had already transferred more than half of the looted crypto currency back to Poly Network.
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The balance on August 12: 342 million of the stolen crypto currency have already been returned to their owners. But 268 million are still missing. But in the end the impression remains: the hackers apparently did not consistently think through their raid.
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