A Fake Uber Driver Borrowed Phones, Then Stole $200K in Cryptocurrency, Police Say – Slashdot

“A man is accused of several felony charges after he allegedly posed as an Uber driver and then stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency from customers in Scottsdale,” reports Arizona news channel Fox 10.

“Prosecutors have called it an ‘extremely sophisticated electronic fraud,'” reports Gizmodo, ” and it’s a strange approach to scamming that makes it sound unique in several ways.”

Nuruhussein Hussein, 40, allegedly picked up two unsuspecting people who were looking for Uber rides they’d ordered in Scottsdale — one in March and the other in October according to Fox 10 — by shouting their names on the street outside a hotel. It’s not clear how Hussein may have known these people were looking for rides and court documents give no indication how he accomplished this or knew the victims would have crypto accounts, according to Fox 10, though a hotel does make sense as a target-rich environment for those looking to get picked up.

Once the victims were in the car, Hussein allegedly obtained the phones of the victims through some kind of pretense, including problems with his own phone and the need to look something up as well as a need to connect with the Uber app, according to NBC News. Hussein would then allegedly open up the victim’s Coinbase account. “While manipulating the unsuspecting victim’s phone the suspect transferred cryptocurrency from their digital wallet to his digital wallet,” police reportedly explained in a statement.