ChangeNOW reported that its AML system flagged and suspended several suspicious ALGO and Algorand-based USDC transactions worth $1.5 million.
According to ChangeNOW’s blog post, its anti-money laundering and risk-prevention system halted $1.5 million in suspicious transactions in ALGO and USDC on the Algorand blockchain on Feb 19th, preventing malicious actors from accessing the funds.
As a result of its own investigation, ChangeNOW discovered that these funds could be related to over 13 million ALGO tokens stolen from Algorand accounts. To locate and return the stolen funds, the company said it would work closely with law enforcement.
Over $3.6 million was stolen from twelve Algorand accounts, according to AlgoDaddy, with the founder of an Algorand-focused developer collective saying it was neither a coincidence, nor a mass attack.
The incident has caused alarm among Algorand users as it raises questions about the effectiveness of Algorand’s security measures. John Woods, Chief Technology Officer at the Algorand Foundation, tweeted that the theft was not linked to any issues with the Algorand protocol. Further investigation may shed light on whether hackers were able to gain access or if the theft was the result of a phishing attack.
According to Crypto Daily, ChangeNOW had stopped three transactions: 300,000 ALGO tokens, 600,000 and 829,000 USDC stablecoins based on the Algorand network.
ChangeNOW’s anti-money laundering efforts have prevented millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies from being lost to fraud and hacking. This latest case was part of an overall $20.5 million seized from bad actors by ChangeNOW – a significant achievement considering that the cryptocurrency landscape has become increasingly vulnerable to criminal activity.
The post ChangeNOW Is Ready to Return $1.5 Million in ALGO Tokens After Tackling Fraudulent Transactions first appeared on BTC Wires.
