Coinberry filed a lawsuit against 50 users who exploited a vulnerability in its software to drain $3M worth of Bitcoin assets.
In early 2020, the Toronto-based crypto exchange rolled out a software update for its platform, which contained a glitch that allowed its users to purchase Bitcoin tokens with CAD that had yet to be transferred to their accounts.
Coinberry’s recent lawsuit, filed in Brampton, Ont., west of Toronto, states that at least 500 users exploited this vulnerability to initiate an e-transfer to buy BTC. After transferring the newly purchased Bitcoin tokens, they canceled their e-transfer, thereby retaining both their funds and the ill-gotten Bitcoin assets.
In response, Coinberry contacted 546 of its users via email, demanding they return their wrongly acquired Bitcoin tokens. Additionally, the firm reached out to Binance to help trace the misappropriated funds.
Binance, in turn, affirmed it had identified some users accused of misappropriating funds and claimed to have restricted their accounts. It did not mention any details about the lawsuit and instead stated,
“The company is committed to prevent bad actors from using the platform, which includes a world-renowned investigative team.”
Coinberry claims that Jordan Steifuk and Connor Heffernan, responsible for siphoning over $385K, are, in fact, the same person. The firm, however, refused to disclose the user’s true identity.
Currently, Coinberry has successfully recovered 37 BTC from 210 users, with 70% of the misappropriated funds remaining unaccounted for. The recent lawsuit, filed against 50 users, concerns 63 of the outstanding BTC tokens, including 9.48 units transferred to Binance’s exchange.
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