A man in Scottsdale , Arizona , has been charged with steal hundreds of thou of dollars in crypto from victims who thought he was an Uber driver . prosecutor have called it an “ extremely sophisticated electronic shammer , ” and it ’s a strange approach to scamming that makes it sound unique in several ways .
Nuruhussein Hussein , 40 , allegedly pick up two unsuspecting mass who were looking for Uber rides they ’d ordered in Scottsdale — one in March and the other in October according toFox 10 — by shouting their name on the street outside a hotel . It ’s not clear how Hussein may have known these people were looking for rides and court documents give no reading how he accomplished this or knew the victims would have crypto accounts , according to Fox 10 , though a hotel does make gumption as a target - racy surroundings for those attend to get picked up .
Once the victims were in the car , Hussein allegedly obtained the phones of the dupe through some kind of pretence , including problems with his own telephone set and the need to expect something up as well as a need to connect with the Uber app , fit in toNBC News . Hussein would then allegedly give up the victim ’s Coinbase account .
File photo of a Scottsdale, Arizona Police badge on 26 February 2025 in Scottsdale, Arizona.© Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty
“ While keep in line the unsuspecting dupe ’s speech sound the defendant transfer cryptocurrency from their digital wallet to his digital wallet , ” police force reportedly explain in a statement . And when one of the victims take for their earpiece back , Hussein allegedly got mingy and threatening .
“ He made threats to one of the victims that they needed to cool down or something bad would materialise , and the dupe consider that he had a gun , although he did not see a weapon at that time , ” the lawcourt documents allege , fit in to Fox 10 .
Hussein was placed on $ 200,000 adhesion and is banned from using the net . The justice also ordinate electronic monitoring of his location and tell him he needs to stay in Maricopa County , according to NBC News .
There does appear to be a discrepancy between what the police are saying publicly and what ’s contained in the court documents , according to Fox 10 . The Scottsdale Police Department apparently allege Hussein stole more than $ 300,000 but the judicature written document number the larceny as about $ 223,000 . It ’s undecipherable if there was a miscalculation in some way perhaps attributable to the fluctuation of crypto . But we do n’t bonk for sure .
The Scottsdale Police Department did n’t respond to question emailed Friday . Gizmodo will update this post if we get a line back .
ArizonaCryptoCryptocurrenciesCryptocurrencyNuruhussein HusseinUber
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