Cryptocrook ringleader, 22, who met crew on Minecraft admits role in $245M heist

cyber-crime

Stolen funds bought mansions, private jets, and supercars – now he faces up to 20 years

The ringleader of a sprawling cybercrime operation has pleaded guilty in the US after helping to steal and launder hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.

Malone Lam, 22, a Singaporean national and Miami resident, spearheaded the scheme to steal cryptocurrency from wealthy individuals between October 2023 and May 2025.

He first visited the US in 2023 after meeting two of the group's earliest alleged members – Jeandiel Serrano and Veer Chetal – while playing Minecraft online.

Lam performed various functions within the group, although court documents [PDF] identify victim selection and social engineering support as his principal roles.

The ringleader was responsible for obtaining databases of high-net-worth individuals who had cryptocurrency holdings to inform the group's targeting. He would also trigger account access notifications on victims' devices to convince them that their accounts were under attack.

He was also involved in laundering the proceeds through exchanges that, according to court documents, had lax KYC requirements.

Other group members carried out the social engineering calls, claiming to represent Google, Yahoo, Coinbase, Gemini (the crypto exchange, not the AI chatbot), and other online platforms.

Their job was to convince victims to surrender personal information and "access codes" that could be used to access their accounts. 

Once they secured access, Lam's crew would look for cryptocurrency accounts, seed phrases, and passwords they could use to steal victims' assets.

In most cases, social engineering techniques were enough to meet the thieves' goals, although in one case involving a victim who stored their holdings in a hardware wallet, Lam's gang arranged for Marlon Ferro to physically break into a house and steal it.

The Register covered Ferro's sentencing earlier this year. He was brought into Lam's fold when he was just a teenager, tasked with carrying out multiple burglaries across the US when remote social engineering attacks lacked the necessary reach.

During the crew's nearly two-year operation, its members stole hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency.

The individual thefts ranged from about $800,000 to tens of millions of dollars, while one victim lost more than $245 million, according to court documents.

Lam's crew, allegedly comprising at least 12 individuals, knew how to spend their illicit gains.

Exotic cars rented by Malone Lam and his cybercrime crew parked outside luxury residences

Prosecutors claim they splurged up to $500,000 on a single evening at a nightclub, dished out handbags worth tens of thousands of dollars to partygoers, and bought luxury clothing and watches priced between $100,000 and $500,000.

They rented expensive properties in Miami, Los Angeles, and the Hamptons, chartered private jets, hired a team of private bodyguards, and splashed out on exotic cars, with some worth up to $3.8 million.

Lam was arrested at a rented property in Miami on September 18, 2024.

His sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. The court has set a status hearing for December 8.

Lam pleaded guilty to one count of participating in a racketeering conspiracy, an offense carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

"If you build a cybercrime empire, we will find you, dismantle your operation, and hold you accountable," said US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. "This defendant led an international network that preyed on victims through deception, invaded their privacy, and stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency. 

"Working with our partners at the FBI and IRS-CI, we will continue to hunt down the criminals who weaponize technology to steal from innocent people." ®