In Zhejiang province, China, a criminal gang exploited digital yuan accounts to illegally cash out over 200,000 yuan (,566) within four days. The digital yuan, or e-CNY, is the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) central bank digital currency (CBDC), which has experienced substantial growth in usage. Adoption has reached 260 million wallets across 25 cities, […]
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Gang of Masked Men Raid Bitcoin Exchange in Birmingham
n The gang of masked men were after the cash inside the Bitcoin ATM and not the cryptocurrency, according to the owner of the establishmentn
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Europol Arrests Gang After Laundering €1 Billion Worth of Bitcoin
The Spanish police authority announced the arrest of ‘Denis K.’, the suspected leader of a cyber-crime gang who allegedly stole up to 1 billion Euros from banks all around the country, according to Europol.
Ukranian-Russian Cybercriminals Caught After Laundering €1 billion Worth of BTC
As modus operandi, the gang made up of Russian and Ukranian nationals would gain control of banks’ network and servers by targeting bank employees with emails infecting their computers. Once inside the servers, the gang altered account balances and instructed automatic teller machines to issue cash.
The group also set up a Bitcoin farm as a means of laundering money, according to the authorities. After cooperation between police forces in the United States, Asia (Taiwan), and Europe (Romania and Belarus), as well as private cybersecurity companies, the suspected leader of the cybercriminal group was arrested in Alicante, a port city with approximately 750,000 residents.
The Ukranian-Russian criminal organization has been active since 2013, with members in 40 countries and carrying out attacks on 100 financial institutions, said Europol. The Interior Ministry of Spain, led by Mr. Juan Ignacio Zoido, said three other members of his organization were arrested.
The Interior Ministry of Spain added that the Alicante police seized €500,000 worth of jewels, two luxury cars during the raid, and two homes valued at approximately €1 million. The authorities have also frozen bank accounts associated with the suspects.
“With that level of access, the nefarious individuals authorize fraudulent bank transfers, raise the balances of mule accounts or command affected ATMs to spit out the money for them,”
said the statement from Europol, noting that the gang used the Russian mafia to coordinate the work of the ‘mules’ they used to extract money from cash points that they attacked. They switched to the Moldovan mafia from 2016 onwards.
The cybercriminal operation was able to accumulate about 15,000 Bitcoins as the money was converted into the cryptocurrency at exchange houses in Russia and Ukraine to be later transferred to their accounts.
‘Denis K.’, the alleged gang leader, would load prepaid cards with Bitcoin through financial platforms in Gibraltar and the UK, and then spend them in Spain on the aforementioned goods, such as cars and homes.
Crime is a topic often discussed within the cryptocurrency community as the money laundering tradition may be shifting from fiat currencies to digital assets. Recently, a Turkish gang has extorted 450 Bitcoins from a wealthy businessman. In February, four men linked to a Taiwanese gang were arrested by police for having allegedly stolen 0,000 worth of Bitcoin.
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ai gang AIX Listed on KuCoin AIX/BTC and AIX/ETH
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Turkish Gang Extort 450 Bitcoin
According to several Turkish news sources, law enforcement have detained a criminal ring in Merter, Istanbul. The gang reportedly extorted cryptocurrency from a wealthy business who had been flashing his cash on social media websites.
In total, they were able to steal 450 BTC, worth over .5 million at today’s market price. According to local newspapers, the criminals posed as police, followed the victim to his car before bundling him into the back of a van. There, they threatened him at gunpoint to transfer the Bitcoin, as well as to surrender his online banking log in details. The whole incident is said to have lasted eight hours before the businessman was released.
The gang were less effective at covering their movements than they were at extorting the funds, however. Following a report being filed with law enforcement by the victim, police were able to quickly identify the members of the criminal network using CCTV surveillance cameras in the area. An intelligence gathering operation followed in which the authorities studied the movements of the members. Meanwhile, the stolen funds were tracked via the blockchain. However, it’s unclear at present whether the Bitcoin were returned to their rightful owner.
Having gathered sufficient evidence, the police moved in as the gang were preparing a second extortion job. During their investigation, the authorities also discovered that mining devices had been stolen from three other victims in the district of Esenler.
Following the arrest of the members of the gang, HaberTurk, a Turkish news source reported that the ringleader has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars. The incident and ensuing legal action is the first prosecution for a cryptocurrency-related extortion in the country of Turkey to date.
It’s believed that the gang had targeted the businessman after he had posted various pictures of him living a flamboyant, decadent lifestyle on social media platforms. This further highlights the need for discretion with cryptocurrency holdings. Announcing that you just bought 20 BTC for 100 bucks to the general public on an online forum back in May 2011 might not have seemed like a big deal at the time. Today, however, you’d be considered a more than worthy target for a similar extortion to that detailed above.
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$3.5 Million: Turkish Kidnapping Gang Targeting Bitcoin Holders Busted
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