A crypto holder lost more than $282 million in Bitcoin and Litecoin on January 10 in a hardware wallet social engineering scam. The theft was reported by blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
The stolen assets included large amounts of Bitcoin and Litecoin taken from a single victim. The incident is now considered one of the largest individual crypto thefts reported in 2026.
Soon after the theft, the attacker began laundering the funds through instant exchanges. The stolen Bitcoin and Litecoin were converted into Monero to make tracking more difficult.
The large conversion volume caused Monero’s price to rise sharply for a short time. Investigators say hundreds of millions of dollars were processed during the laundering activity.
The attacker also used Thorchain to move Bitcoin across several networks. Funds were bridged to Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin networks to further hide their origin.
ZachXBT linked the theft to a wider wallet-draining campaign seen in early January. That campaign targeted hundreds of wallets across multiple blockchains.
Most victims in the wider attack lost small amounts, often under $2,000 per wallet. However, the $282 million loss stands out as the largest single case.
Hardware wallets are usually considered very secure because private keys stay on the device. Social engineering scams bypass this by tricking users into giving away access, often through fake websites or support messages.
Wallet makers have not issued warnings about a specific campaign. Experts advise users to verify all messages and never enter recovery phrases on websites or apps.
