A joint operation conducted by the FBI and Ukrainian police seized 9 crypto exchanges used by cybercriminal groups for money laundering.
The Cyber Police Department together with the Main Investigative Department of the National Police, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and in cooperation with the FBI conducted an international operation that seized nine crypto exchanges used by cybercriminal groups to launder profits from illegal activities, including ransomware attacks and online fraud.
“Web resources offered users anonymous exchange of cryptocurrencies. Such services were provided to facilitate the legalization and laundering of money obtained illegally.” states the press release published by the Ukraine’s Cyber Police. “Through exchanges, attackers channeled assets obtained as a result of malware attacks (cryptoviruses) and online fraud. Exchange services were advertised on closed hacker forums.”
The law enforcement entities seized the infrastructure behind the crypto exchanges along the domains associated with them. The seized servers were located in the United States of America, European countries, and Ukraine.
The crypto exchanges seized by law enforcement are:
- 24xbtc.com
- 100btc.pro
- pridechange.com
- 101crypta.com
- uxbtc.com
- trust-exchange.org
- bitcoin24.exchange
- paybtc.pro
- owl.gold
Law enforcement published the following seizure banner on the seized services:
“Domain names offered by organizations which were engaged in cryptocurrency conversions and provided assistance to cyber-criminals were seized, and related servers were shut down. U.S. based servers used in the scheme were taken offline by U.S. authorities.” reads the announcement published by the FBI. “Noncompliant virtual currency exchanges, which have a lax anti-money laundering program or collect minimal Know Your Customer information or none at all, serve as important hubs in the cybercrime ecosystem and are operating in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Sections 1960 and 1956.”
Many of these services are advertised on cybercrime forums, the services were offering support in both Russian and English.
The investigation is still ongoing and the police are working to identify those involved in criminal activities.
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Pierluigi Paganini
(SecurityAffairs – hacking, crypto exchanges)
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