Secret Service Seizes Over $102 Million in Crypto Assets

WASHINGTON – The United States Secret Service is cracking down on illegal digital currency transactions, seizing more than $102 million in cryptocurrency from criminals involved in fraud-related investigations.

David Smith, assistant director of investigations, said dealers and analysts actively monitor the flow of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the blockchain, similar to an old-fashioned surveillance. Best known for protecting presidents, the Secret Service also conducts financial and cybercrime investigations.

“When you track a digital wallet, it’s no different than an email address with a corresponding identifier number,” Smith said in an interview at agency headquarters. “And when one person and another make a transaction and that transaction is included in the blockchain, we have the ability to track that email address or wallet address, if you want, and track it through the chain. block.”

According to the agency, the seizure of more than $102 million in cryptocurrencies has occurred in 254 cases since 2015.

Those cases include an investigation with the Romanian National Police, in which 900 victims across the United States were targeted. That scheme involved posting false advertisements on online auction sites and sales for luxury items that did not exist and the delivery of invoices allegedly from reputable companies, makes transactions seem real. The perpetrators were then involved in a money laundering scheme in which the victim’s funds were converted into digital assets, the Secret Service said.

Other cases target a Russian cybercrime organization that uses cryptocurrency exchanges to launder money as well as ransomware activity involving Russian and North Korean criminals, where payments are in Bitcoin by US companies to prevent attacks that were sent to the suspect’s crypto wallet.

“One of the things about cryptocurrency is that it moves money at a faster rate than traditional formats,” Smith said, adding that the rapid transaction speed makes it attractive to both people and consumers. American consumption and crime. “What the criminals want to do is cloud the waters and try to stop their activities. What we want to do is track that as fast as we can, in a linear way. “

Smith was interviewed inside the agency’s Global Investigative Operations Center, known as “GIOC,” in which agents and analysts monitor cryptocurrency transactions around the world in a single room. safety at the agency’s headquarters. He compared the illegal cryptocurrency trail to looking at a “house of mirrors”.

Once the Secret Service records illegal activity, it works to “dig a little deeper into those transactions and deconstruct them.” [them],” Smith said. “You send me something bad on an email, I know there is some criminal activity associated with that email address, I can deconstruct, find any piece of information that you used. when logging in for the first time or registering that email address.”

Investigators are uncovering thieves who will convert stolen Bitcoins and other digital currencies into stablecoins. So to track this activity, they are monitoring the market. “Because, you know, criminals, they’re human too. They want to avoid some of the market volatility associated with some of the major coins,” he said.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here