More than $102 million in digital assets was confiscated by the US Secret Service in a raid against illegal transactions of digital assets linked to cybercrime.
According to statistics provided by the security agency, the seized crypto wealth has recovered from 254 targeted cases since 2015.
In addition to protecting the presidents of US states, the Secret Service investigates financial crimes and cybercrime. In an interview at the agency’s headquarters, David Smith, deputy director of investigations, stated that experts and analysts monitor the flow of Bitcoin like old-fashioned surveillance. He added;
When you track a digital currency wallet, it is no different than an email address with some associated identifier. And when one person and another person makes a transaction and enters that blockchain, we have the ability to track that email address or wallet address and trace it throughout the blockchain if we wish.
Romanian police conducted initial investigations targeting more than 900 victims in the US. The scammers placed ads on reputable websites and sales auctions and offered some kind of luxury item that didn’t exist. And to make the purchase real, they managed to deliver the so-called invoices from leading companies. The Secret Service later said that criminals smuggled the funds into a money laundering scheme in which victims’ funds were converted into cryptocurrency.
Other cases targeted by the Secret Service include a cybercrime syndicate of Russian and North Korean criminals involved in ransomware operations as well as barter for illegal money laundering activities. In these cases, Bitcoin payments were sent to the suspects’ crypto wallets to stop the attacks by US companies.
Source News Continued: cnbc.com
Disclaimer: What is written here is not investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are high-risk investments. Every investment decision is under the individual’s own responsibility.
