Ex-SAF captain admits breaking into home, took picture of crypto wallet access info, stole funds

SINGAPORE – A Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) regular broke into a man’s condominium home in 2022 and made off with information linked to the latter’s cryptocurrency wallet.

Teo Rong Xuan, who left the SAF in 2023, later used the information – a “seed phrase” made up of words and serial numbers – to access the man’s cryptocurrency wallet and stole 1.7 million USDT.

A seed phrase is a collection of words that can be used to access an individual’s cryptocurrency wallet.

According to court documents, the amount of USDT he stole was worth the same amount in US dollars – US$1.7 million (S$2.2 million).

Teo, who was a captain with the Naval Diving Unit at the time of the offences, used his ill-gotten gains to buy luxury watches as well as settle his gambling expenses and mortgage payments.

On Oct 1, Teo, 34, who did not make any restitution to the victim, pleaded guilty to one count each of housebreaking and misusing a computer system. He also pleaded guilty to multiple counts of dealing with the ill-gotten gains.

Responding to queries from The Straits Times, the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) said that he was discharged from the SAF.

A Mindef spokesperson added: “The SAF holds its service personnel to high standards of discipline and integrity. Service personnel who commit offences will be dealt with in accordance with the law.”

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jonathan Tan told the court that Teo, also known as Rex, joined the diving unit in 2010.

In June 2022, he met the victim, a 30-year-old Chinese national, through a mutual friend identified as “Zee” in court documents.

The court heard that the victim had a “cold wallet” – a cryptocurrency wallet that was not connected to the internet.

The DPP said that the man’s cold wallet was a “Ledger Nano X” hardware device that physically resembled a thumb drive or security token.

After buying the cold wallet, the victim registered it on an official mobile application, which generated 24 English words, each with a serial number.

He then wrote the seed phrase – made up of the words and serial numbers – on a piece of paper which he kept at home.

He later deposited around 1.7 million USDT into his cold wallet on Dec 14, 2022.

Four days later, he invited Teo and Zee to his home to watch a football match.

Teo arrived at around 10.30pm and about 30 minutes later, Zee sent a message to their WhatsApp group, stating that he was at a lift lobby near the victim’s unit.

Teo then asked the victim for his condominium access card to fetch Zee, and the victim complied.

Teo did not return the card and on Dec 31 that year, the trio made plans to meet at the Marina Bay area at 9pm to welcome the new year.

Before they met, Teo, who found out that the victim had left his condominium, went to the property and used the card to enter the unit.

He entered the man’s bedroom, found the paper containing the seed phrase, snapped a picture of it and left. After that, he went to the Marina Bay area to meet the victim and Zee.

Teo was at home on Jan 1, 2023, when he connected his own Ledger device to his desktop computer, keyed in the victim’s seed phrase and accessed the latter’s cold wallet. He then transferred the 1.7 million USDT to his own cryptocurrency wallet.

The DPP said that Teo transferred around 100,000 USDT of his ill-gotten gains to an illegal gambling website.

Later, he used around 500,000 USDT for cryptocurrency transactions, mostly involving an illegal gambling website.

He also converted around 1.1 million USDT to US dollars, and transferred the money to his bank account. Teo then used his ill-gotten gains to settle multiple payments.

On March 23, 2023, the victim realised that somebody had withdrawn the 1.7million USDT earlier that year.

He alerted the police and engaged blockchain security company SlowMist to assist in tracing his missing USDT. SlowMist later told him that some fees were traced to Teo’s cryptocurrency wallet.

The victim confronted Teo, who came clean about what he had done.

Teo also told the victim that he committed the offence as he had suffered “huge monetary losses” after a company called FTX Trading, that operated a cryptocurrency exchange and hedge fund,

collapsed in 2022

.

Teo, who is represented by lawyer Gino Hardial Singh, was charged in court in 2023. He is expected to be sentenced on Nov 14.