Federal agents have arrested a Florida man they say helped run a scheme that smuggled crypto-stealing malware into video games, infecting thousands of devices and draining hundreds of thousands of dollars from victims' wallets.
Games as baitInvestigators tied Wilkins to the handle "Sibel.eth," which they say he used to coordinate with an unidentified "primary developer" over the encrypted app Signal—where, according to the complaint, the two discussed running "draining campaigns" and tricking victims into approving transactions that instantly emptied their wallets. Wilkins bought a "remote access trojan" for $10,000, agents said.
They unmasked him, the complaint says, by following Bitcoin from the scheme's wallet to Bitrefill, where it was spent on more than 150 gift cards—mostly for Uber Eats. A subpoena to Uber linked those cards to an account with deliveries to Wilkins' home and to his University of West Florida addresses.
Raising SteamWilkins was due in federal court in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, with no timeline set for his transfer to Washington to face the charge, which carries up to 10 years in prison.
