Cryptocurrency thieves arrested by Tokyo police

January 23, 2020

Tokyo--Tokyo police arrested two men for allegedly stealing some 78 million yen's worth of bitcoin, a kind of cryptocurrency, from an overseas cryptocurrency exchange, it was learned Thursday.

The Metropolitan Police Department's cybercrime unit arrested Yuto Onitsuka, 25, and Takuma Sasaki, 28, on computer fraud charges, investigative sources said.

The two are suspected of accessing the account of a Tokyo-based virtual currency management company on the CoinExchange cryptocurrency exchange and stealing some 78 million yen in bitcoin from the account on Oct. 29, 2018. The stolen bitcoin was remitted to two accounts managed by the suspects in foreign and domestic exchanges.

According to the investigative sources, Onitsuka was an employee of the Tokyo virtual currency management firm at the time, with knowledge of the username and password for the company account. Sasaki is seen to have learned the login details from Onitsuka and used the information to fraudulently withdraw the bitcoin.

Part of the stolen bitcoin is seen to have been exchanged with cash, which was put in Sasaki's bank account.

The MPD began investigation after the company reported the theft. Jiji Press