MANILA — The Department of Justice has indicted two former Russian consultants of Coins.ph for hacking the company’s system and stealing 12.2 million XRP amounting to a total of P340.745 million.

In a statement, the DOJ said charges were filed before the Taguig City Regional Trial Court against Vladimir Evgenevich Avdeev and Sergey Yaschuck for violation of Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

The DOJ noted that Coins.ph is an entity engaged in remittance, transmittal of money, foreign currency exchange and other money transactions.

“It is the DOJ’s mandate to assure the Rule of Law is upheld at all times, and this extends even in cyberspace.” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in the statement.

The DOJ said Coins.ph’s security team concluded that the malicious actor must have had a comprehensive grasp of its network infrastructure, secure access key protocols, and server systems based on the recorded suspicious system logins.

The respondents also allegedly tried to swap and transfer the stolen funds through identified cryptocurrency services in an attempt to confuse investigators once their scheme is busted.

“Cybercriminals seem to have employed ways to keep up with modern technological trends to exploit the innocence of our people. Despite the government’s unwavering efforts to weed out undesirable elements in cyberspace, it is always better to stay vigilant on our own at all times,” Remulla said.