18-05-2025
Gaming hacker's waterfront mansion and Mercedes Benz seized in major cybercrime probe
Luxury assets linked to a previously convicted hacker worth more than $4.5million, including a beachfront mansion, have been seized by Australian Federal Police.
Shane Stephen Duffy, 32, from Queensland had millions of dollars worth of assets seized following a lengthy investigation into stolen cryptocurrency and cyber hacking.
In April, a beachfront home, a 2019 black Mercedes-Benz sedan and nearly 25 Bitcoin was seized by the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT).
Duffy is suspected of stealing 950 Bitcoin from a French cryptocurrency exchange in 2013, now worth about $150million.
He had previously been convicted of hacking US-based gaming company Riot Games, the company behind the popular video game League of Legends.
In 2018, the CACT launched an investigation after AUSTRAC were tipped off by authorities in Luxembourg about suspicious Bitcoin transactions.
The alleged Bitcoin theft has not led to any criminal charges.
However the CACT was able to restrict the suspected proceeds of the alleged crime under federal laws, even without a prosecution.
Authorities secured restraining orders over the assets in 2019 and they were subsequently forfeited in April.
Assets included a Beachmere waterfront mansion in Queensland's Moreton Bay region purchased in 2018 for $1.1million, which is now estimated to be worth about $2million.
The luxury property was held in Duffy's mother's name.
Following the home's sale, the proceeds will be transferred into a special fund that assists crime prevention and law enforcement initiatives.
The AFP remains committed confiscating alleged proceeds of crime to disrupt criminals and cybercrime.
'The Proceeds of Crime Act provides law enforcement agencies with unique powers to restrain and forfeit instruments and proceeds of crime,' AFP Commander Jason Kennedy
'Criminals are driven by greed at the expense of honest Australians and businesses who are losing their hard-earned money to cyber criminals.
'The profits derived from criminal activities are also often used to fund further criminal acts, which is why the AFP works closely with our partners in the CACT to target the proceeds of crime and ensure they are re-invested in the community.'
Since 2019, CACT has restrained more than $1.2bn in criminal assets, including houses, cars, yachts, cryptocurrency, fine art and luxury goods.
Duffy accumulated more than $32,000 in 2013 by selling access to inactive League of Legends accounts, according to court documents.
He hacked the X, formerly known as Twitter, account of Riot Games president Marc Merrill to promote the illegal operation and allegedly teamed up with another hacker to disrupt matches on the platform by disconnecting players.
The company said the operation resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being lost.
In 2016, Mr Duffy was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail, to be served on immediate parole after he pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court.
