Described by the judge as a man of ‘very high intelligence’, Wybo Wiersma was unmasked by a series of foolish mistakes.

First, the pseudonym he used to set up the website iotaseed.io - Norbert Van Den Berg - was found among his university coursework.

The first cryptocurrency exchange he used to try and launder the stolen Iota currency became suspicious and froze four accounts.

READ MORE: Jail for computer genius who stole Iota cryptocurrency

And in an attempt to try and get them unfrozen, he sent the Bitfinex exchange images of two different men who supposedly held two different accounts.

The men were holding paper marked with the date, and Wiersma sent images of identification documents in their name and bearing their likeness.

The ID documents were found to be forgeries.

One of the men was supposedly a Belgian national; but the silhouette outline supposedly of Belgium in his passport was the wrong shape.

Another image, sent to the second crypto exchange Binance after they froze his account, purported to show a man with a UK passport. Again, the ID document was found to be a forgery.

READ MORE: Live updates from sentencing of Iota thief

When officers raided his home in Park Town in January 2019, the found his desktop computer open. That meant, unlike his laptop and more than half a dozen storage devices, they were able to bypass the Oxford post-grad's uncrackable encryption.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward