SINGAPORE – Victims have lost about $3.5 million after buying tampered cryptocurrency hardware wallets at Singapore stores.

In a statement on Oct 28, the police said two cases involving hardware wallets by Paris-based manufacturer Ledger have been reported since Sept 10.

A hardware wallet is a physical device that stores private keys offline, making them more secure than storing the keys online, where they are vulnerable to hacking.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Ledger devices that were bought at certain retail stores in Singapore contained malicious hardware components.

The police said the malicious hardware components in the Ledger devices are able to capture users’ recovery phrases or private keys.

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