Tampered Ledger wallets cost Singapore users $2.7M: Police

The Singapore Police Force revealed in an advisory published Wednesday that preliminary investigations found malicious hardware components in Ledger wallets purchased from some retail stores in the city-state. This disclosure adds both a local loss figure and an earlier reporting date to the incident, which surfaced publicly on Oct. 9 following reports of losses involving devices sold through CryptoBilis, an authorized Ledger reseller in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Earlier Reports

Police confirmed that at least two cases were reported as early as Sept. 10, nearly a month before the wider incident became public. Days later, former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès said that a Ledger Flex purchased at Singapore's airport contained a spy implant.

Retailer Involvement

Another Ledger user claimed to have a tampered device bought from local IT retailer Challenger. The user said he was later sent a new device from Ledger. On Oct. 13, Ledger announced it has asked retailers in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Hong Kong to suspend sales of Ledger devices as investigations are ongoing.

Ongoing Investigations

Singapore police stated they are in contact with Ledger, which is reviewing the affected cases, while police investigations continue. The total financial impact of the tampered devices across the affected region remains unclear as more potential victims may come forward.