Belgian cops swipe 19-year-old "Airbnb admin" alleged to have phishing-as-a-service down to a science 🛏️

Belgian authorities have arrested a 19-year-old suspected of leading a European phishing and money-laundering network that stole more than 500,000 euros ($572,000) using fake government emails and phone calls to trick victims into installing remote-access software. Police detained the suspect at an Airbnb in Antwerp, where a second suspect was also located. The Federal Judicial Police opened the investigation in March 2026, when phishing attacks became a regional priority, according to a Thursday police report. The main suspect was brought before an investigating judge, who issued an arrest warrant. Investigators said the gang relied on money mules and cash carriers and laundered the proceeds through cryptocurrencies. The case shows that crypto can play multiple roles in phishing operations, including as a means of laundering illicit proceeds.

Phishing dominates crypto security losses, and remains a long-standing hurdle for the crypto industry because attackers exploit human behavior rather than the code of a protocol. Phishing and social engineering attacks accounted for $306 million of the $482 million lost in the first quarter of 2026, according to Hacken. On May 25, onchain analyst "b-block" warned that scammers used Google to deploy malicious phishing ads impersonating decentralized exchange Uniswap, reportedly stealing more than $400,000 from victims. Data aggregator DeFiLlama said that "fake ads on Google are a common source of phishing attacks." Crypto cybersecurity group Security Alliance also reported in April that there was a "significant uptick" in phishing activity on Google Search in March.

Blockchain security company CertiK's Skynet report also highlighted phishing and social engineering as leading attack vectors for North Korea-linked malicious actors. CertiK attributed the 2022 Ronin Bridge exploit that stole $600 million to a spearphishing campaign involving a fake LinkedIn recruiter and a malware-laden PDF.