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SOFIA (Reuters) - Three Bulgarians were arrested and charged over the theft of cryptocurrencies worth about $5 million, the interior ministry and prosecutors’ office and said on Monday.

Police seized cryptocurrencies worth about $3 million, as well as computers used by the suspects. They also found notebooks listing accounts of people, real and fictitious, used in the scam.

The prosecutors said the suspects had very good knowledge of cryptocurrency trading and used innovative methods and specialized software for the theft.

According to a report from U.S.-based cyber security firm CipherTrace released last month, theft of cryptocurrencies through hacking of exchanges and trading platforms soared to $927 million in the first nine months of the year, up nearly 250 percent from the level seen in 2017.