Overview
- Investigators found password-protected notes and an image of number–word sequences on a suspect’s phone during a probe into tech tools allegedly sold to offenders.
- An AFP data scientist saw that each sequence carried an added leading digit and, after removing them, reconstructed the correct 24-word seed phrase.
- The wallet held crypto worth about AU$9 million (US$5.9 million), which the AFP accessed and placed under the Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce’s control.
- The money will be transferred to a commonwealth account for potential crime-prevention use if a court orders confiscation.
- The AFP noted that refusing to provide wallet access can bring up to 10 years in prison, and said the same specialist previously helped recover about AU$4.7 million.