A sharp-eyed data scientist has prevented an alleged criminal from walking free into a multi-million-dollar retirement, cracking what authorities describe as a deliberately booby-trapped cryptocurrency seed phrase to a wallet worth $5.9 million.
The Australian Federal Police pulled off what Commissioner Krissy Barrett calls “miraculous work” after discovering password-locked notes on a suspect’s phone during their probe into someone accused of peddling tech products to criminals. Investigators found an image displaying seemingly random numerical sequences and words that didn’t quite add up.
Decoding the Digital Trap
The forensics team spotted something unusual: six number groups containing over 50 combinations that pointed toward a crypto wallet. When the suspect refused to surrender access codes, risking a decade behind bars under Australian law, one data scientist noticed the sequences looked suspiciously human-altered rather than computer-generated. His discovery? The alleged criminal had added extra digits to the front of each sequence, attempting to disguise a 24-word seed phrase. Removing those first numbers unlocked the wallet.
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Authorities have seized the cryptocurrency via the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce. The same analyst previously recovered another $3 million using different decoding methods. Courts will determine whether the confiscated cryptocurrency gets redistributed by the government towards crime prevention programs. The bust proves no digital lock hack is tough when sharp minds are on the case. One clever twist turned a cybercriminal’s trap into his own undoing.
