An Arizona man posing as an Uber driver allegedly stole over $300,000 in cryptocurrency from unsuspecting passengers, according to a report on Thursday.

What Happened: The accused, Nuruhussein Hussein, pretended to be an Uber driver and picked up people waiting at a Scottsdale hotel, FOX 10 Phoenix reported, citing the Scottsdale Police Department.

The alleged scam began with Hussein calling out the names of potential Uber passengers he witnessed waiting for their rides.

Authorities alleged that Hussein asked his passengers to unlock their phones and hand them over to him to help troubleshoot when the app did not recognize him as the driver. Once in control of the victims' devices, he deceitfully transferred funds from their digital wallets to his own, with the total amount stolen estimated to be around $302,000.

Court documents indicated that one victim handed over his phone to Hussein in October, who drove a short distance before returning the phone, claiming he was unable to connect the ride. The victim later noticed several emails indicating a cryptocurrency transfer had occurred.

Hussein was booked into Maricopa County jail for multiple felony charges, including theft, fraud schemes, and money laundering. The investigation, involving Scottsdale police detectives and Secret Service Special Agents, is ongoing.

Why It Matters: This incident underscores the growing concern over the security of digital assets and the ease with which they can be stolen.

Last month, a Colorado resident was tricked into sending $6,000 worth of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) to fake law enforcement officials.

The scammers threatened the victim with arrest for supposedly missing jury duty. The victim, under the impression that she had missed a jury summons, followed the scammer's instructions to settle a fake warrant via a Bitcoin ATM.

Earlier in August, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sounded the alarm on incidents of scammers impersonating cryptocurrency exchange employees to defraud people.