Crypto hard wallet maker Ledger suspends sales in S-E Asia; tampered devices found sold in S’pore

The sales suspension covers Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong. SINGAPORE – Paris-based cryptocurrency hardware wallet maker Ledger has suspended sales across South-east Asia after discovering that some of its devices had been tampered with to steal user funds.

Following an Oct 9 incident in which wallet owners reported stolen cryptocurrency, Ledger announced on Oct 13 that it is also asking regional resellers and distributors to pull the hardware wallets from their shelves.

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.

The manufacturer is investigating devices sold by Malaysian reseller CryptoBilis, which were found to contain malicious implants.