A thief secretly photographed Ledger recovery phrases and stole $1.7 million worth of USDT

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, a former Singapore Armed Forces diver, Teo Rong Xuan, has pleaded guilty to stealing $1.7 million worth of USDT by breaking into a victim's home and photographing their recovery phrase.

Court documents show that the defendant obtained the victim's apartment access card under the pretense of borrowing it during a party and did not return it. Subsequently, he illegally entered the victim's apartment while the victim was out, found a note with the 24-word recovery phrase for the Ledger Nano X hardware wallet, and took a photo of it with his phone. The next day, the defendant used the recovery phrase to transfer funds and used them to purchase luxury watches, gamble online, and more. He claimed that his motive for the crime was due to severe financial losses suffered after the collapse of the FTX exchange in 2022.