Australian Federal Police (AFP) have successfully decrypted a crypto wallet backup containing A$9 million (approximately $5.9 million). This remarkable achievement was made possible when an AFP data scientist deciphered a complex numerical sequence stored on a suspect’s phone.

During an investigation into a supposed well-connected criminal, the AFP found password-protected notes on the individual’s mobile device. Further examination revealed an image with random numbers and words.

Commissioner Krissy Barrett lauded the team’s efforts as “miraculous work,” acknowledging the data scientist who earned the nickname “crypto safe cracker” within the AFP. Barrett stated the numbers were arranged into six groups, creating over 50 potential combinations, which led the digital forensics team to suspect a connection to a crypto wallet. The suspect had refused to provide the keys to his wallet, a refusal that could result in a ten-year penalty in Australia.

“We knew if we couldn’t open the crypto wallet, and if the alleged offender was sentenced, upon release, he would leave prison a multi-millionaire, all from the profits of organized crime,” Barrett expressed. “For our members, that was not an acceptable outcome.”

How the Code Was Decoded

One of the AFP’s data scientists noted that the alleged criminal intended to create a confusing setup with how the numbers appeared. To crack the 24-word seed phrase, the scientist had to eliminate the first number from each sequence.

The data scientist further explained that some sequences appeared unnatural, suggesting human modification rather than a computer-generated format.

This wasn’t the first instance of successful crypto recovery by the AFP. In another case, the same data scientist assisted in recovering over $3 million in digital assets using a different decoding method. In both scenarios, the AFP’s Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce was responsible for the seized cryptocurrency. If a court orders the funds to be confiscated, they will be redirected to a Commonwealth account managed by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke for crime prevention initiatives.