From Insider to Threat Actor: Investigating a Complex Corporate Crypto Fraud

this blog, we shall share a real-world scenario from a digital forensics engagement where we applied crypto analysis to trace misappropriated corporate funds converted into cryptocurrency. This case highlights how cyber forensics and blockchain intelligence combine to uncover fund flows and support law enforcement.

• THE SCENARIO:

As a Digital Forensics Analyst with Cybermate Forensics, we received an urgent call from the police station regarding a suspected data theft and fund misappropriation at a client organization. The Cybermate response was immediate & we mobilized and visited the client’s site to investigate the case.

Upon arrival, the client’s team briefed us on the situation:

The company, a large enterprise with over 200 employees across offices and client sites, discovered financial discrepancies linked to one of their trusted employees the accountant.

The accountant, responsible for managing fund transfers, allegedly misappropriated funds from the company and its group firms. The misappropriation spanned multiple categories:

• Tax payments

• Regulatory fees

• Credit card expenses

• Employee benefits

• Direct government payments

The stolen funds were systematically diverted into cryptocurrency wallets, making the tracing task complex. While analyzing the accused’s laptop forensic image, we found a particular transaction hash of around ~7.41M DOGE (worth over $1.4M) which was our first point to perform the analysis.

Our task: Perform crypto analysis to trace these transactions, determine the flow of funds, and identify the end destinations or conversions or hot wallets of any other exchanges to other forms of value.

• OUR CRYPTO ANALYSIS MISSION

We obtained the suspect transaction hash which was found in the forensic image (.E01) of accused’s laptop and initiated a full blockchain investigation. By leveraging tools like Dogechain.info for raw transaction data and Arkham Intelligence for entity attribution, we worked to map the complete path of misappropriated funds following every transaction until the final known destination of the stolen crypto.

•  THE GOAL

  • Backtrack a significant DOGE outflow (~7.41M DOGE worth over $1.4M) to understand its source and flow path.

  • Identify wallets and exchanges involved, and map the transaction chain.

• INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS CARRIED OUT:

Step 1: Initial Transaction Analysis

We began by inspecting the transaction hash 59b2f.....e4ca7 which was performed on 10 Jun, 2025 08:10:44 UTC on Dogechain.info which showed:

• DOGE coins received: 7,410,582 DOGE sent out from wallet DKcS...jvf

• Transaction initiated: Consolidated from 4 previous transactions — largely funded by two major incoming transactions (May 19 & May 27, 2025).

 Step 2: Backtracking Inflows to DKcS...jvfOn May 19, 2025, the wallet received 7.05M DOGE ($1.58M).On May 27, 2025, the wallet received 354K DOGE ($81K).

Step 3: Finding the Wallet Address

By clicking on the highlight the transaction hash we go to know:

1)     TxHash: f601b713a29e4f7c7ca16d992345bb055774232349831b476024a85d0286708

Inputs:

                           i.          DRD....7kL — sent 121,352 DOGE ($27k)

                          ii.          DRD....7kL — sent 161,708 DOGE ($36k)

                        iii.          DRD....7kL — sent 832,622 DOGE ($190k)

All inputs came from same wallet DRD....7kL

2)     TxHash:

52f63d0.......a09355

Inputs:

17 inputs combined — mostly from DRD......7kL

Total in: 9.17 million DOGE (~$2.06 million)

Out to:

~7.05 million DOGE went to DKcS...jvf (the wallet you’re tracking)

Step 4: Source of FundsBoth the May 19 and May 27 inflows originated from wallet DRDbcnf...B27kL. On Arkham Intelligence, this wallet is labeled:

• FalconX: Hot Wallet

• Entity Type: Centralized exchange hot wallet

Step 5: Confirming the End of the ChainSince the source is a FalconX hot wallet, this is where the on-chain trace ends — further attribution would require FalconX’s internal records.

• REFERENCES:

Key Tools used during Crypto Analysis for this case:

1. Arkham Intelligence https://www.arkhamintelligence.com 

2. Chainalysis Reactor https://www.chainalysis.com/solutions/reactor/ 

3. Elliptic https://www.elliptic.co/ 

4. TRM Labs https://www.trmlabs.com/ 

5. CipherTrace https://ciphertrace.com/  

6. Etherscan https://etherscan.io/ 

7. Blockchain.com Explorer (Bitcoin) https://www.blockchain.com/explorer 

8. GraphSense https://graphsense.info/ 

9. Blockchair https://blockchair.com/ 

10. Tornado Cash https://tornado.cash/  

11. DeBank https://debank.com/

12. OKLink https://www.oklink.com/

• KEY LEARNINGS

  • Crypto fund tracing can identify sources up to the point where funds enter centralized exchanges.

  • Tools like Dogechain.info (for raw transaction data) and Arkham Intelligence (for entity attribution) are powerful when combined.

  • Exchange hot wallets often represent the boundary between public blockchain data and private off-chain records.

• FINAL THOUGHTS

This exercise demonstrates how crypto forensics works in practice, from analyzing Tx hashes, following UTXO trails, to mapping transactions to entities like exchanges. Such traces are valuable for threat hunters, compliance teams, and forensic analysts working in blockchain security.

Contact Cybermate Forensics today for expert assistance in investigating blockchain crimes, securing digital evidence, and staying compliant with global cyber laws.

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Contact - +91 95185 98944

E-Mail - contact@cybermateforensics.com 

Visit Us- https://www.cybermateforensics.com/

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