Rs 378 crore cryptocurrency stolen from Bengaluru firm, one arrested

Neblio Technologies in Bengaluru lost Rs 378 crore in a major cryptocurrency theft. An employee was arrested for violating IT rules. The company has offered a Rs 96 crore reward for help in recovering the stolen amount. Probe is on

By Indu Shekar

Bengaluru: In a major cybercrime case, police from the Whitefield Central Crime Station have arrested an employee for helping in a Rs 378 crore cryptocurrency theft after servers of Neblio Technologies Pvt Ltd, a crypto trading company based in Bellandur, were hacked.

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The arrested person, Rahul Agarwal (30), is from Jharkhand and was staying near Carmelaram on Sarjapur Road. He had been working at Neblio for over three years. Police said he broke company rules by using his official laptop for part-time work with another firm for nearly 18 months.

Officials suspect that malware entered the laptop through this activity and was later used to hack into the company’s internal systems on July 19. Between 2.37 am and 9.40 am, hackers transferred 44 million US dollars (Rs 378 crore) from the company’s crypto wallets to unknown digital wallets.

Neblio Technologies has now announced a reward of Rs 96 crore to anyone who helps recover the stolen funds. The company said it is working with global cybersecurity teams and law enforcement agencies. It also said that investors’ funds are safe.

Rahul was sent to police custody for further questioning. Police found Rs 15 lakh in one of his bank accounts, which was reportedly transferred from the company where he was working part-time. Police are checking if Rahul worked with the hackers or if the breach happened without his knowledge. The investigation is on.