n Helsinki-based P2P exchange LocalBitcoins has announced it will soon become supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Finlandn
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LocalBitcoins to Be Subject to Regulation by Finland’s FSA
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LocalBitcoins Reveals Security Breach With Some Crypto Wallets Affected
Peer-to-peer bitcoin trading site LocalBitcoins says it’s suffered a hack via a third-party service that affected a small number of users.
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LocalBitcoins Users Scammed of Bitcoin in Phishing Attack, Forum Suspended
Users of the peer-to-peer OTC Bitcoin trading service LocalBitcoins have been targeted by cyber criminals as part of a phishing scam, resulting in the user’s Bitcoin being stolen.
Forum users were being redirected to a phishing site, which was prompting the users to input two-factor authentication codes that were used to access user accounts and empty them of all their Bitcoin.
LocalBitcoins Forum Compromised, Reddit Users Report
According to a PSA on Reddit posted bu u/bitcoinbabeau, LocalBitcoins has been compromised and the site’s forum landing page has been redirecting users to a phishing site. Once at the phishing site – designed to closely mimic the actual LocalBitcoins forum in order to dupe users – users were prompted to login and enter sensitive two-factor authentication codes.
After the hackers gained access to the user’s sensitive account data, the accounts were then emptied of all Bitcoin.
Related Reading | ShapeShift Phishing Site Advertisement Tops Google Search Results
LocalBitcoins has “temporarily disabled” its forum according to the splash page message. The message also directs users to the LocalBitcoins sub-reddit, where horror stories are already being shared.
@LocalBitcoins has apparently been compromised. Users are claiming its forums were redirecting them to a login page that was a phishing website.
An address shared on social media already has ,000 worth of #BTC in it after tricking 5 victims. Forums are now diabled. #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/iKLyMQ0Unf
— Francisco Memoria (@FranciscoMemor) January 26, 2019
“Yeah I think I was the first to get cleaned out. 0.14btc. 5 victims going to one wallet. And that’s just one wallet we know about that belongs to the attacker,” reported u/tefl0ncc.
Another user claimed to be cleaned out of 11 BTC total.
One user posted the hacker’s wallet address, which appears to have only stolen 7.95 BTC across 5 transactions. This already amounts to over ,000 in Bitcoin. However, additional wallet addresses may be involved considering the report of 11 BTC being stolen from another user.
LocalBitcoins Phishing Attack: Was DNS Spoofing to Blame?
As of the time of this writing, LocalBitcoins has yet to comment on the matter, but do appear to be aware of the situation considering their prompt response in taking down the forum.
How the attack occurred isn’t yet clear, however, it appears to be a fairly common DNS spoofing attack. Hackers use DNS spoofing to maliciously redirect users from one site to a fake one, usually designed to – just like in the case here with LocalBitcoins – steal user’s sensitive personal information, and use it to access the user’s accounts.
Not your vault, not your gold. https://t.co/ThSkkuXGqO
— Jesse Powell (@jespow) January 25, 2019
Reddit users also suggest that the hacker “used some sort of script to use the 2FA code entered by the user to withdraw the bitcoin.”
Related Reading | New Blockchain.info Phishing Email Threatens BTC Users
Last year, the popular Ethereum and ERC-20 token wallet MyEtherWallet was also targeted in a DNS spoofing attack. Users then logged into the fake site they were redirected to, allowing hackers to gain access to their funds.
Users can protect themselves by always double-checking the URL of the page they are currently on, and should always look for the lock next to the URL indicating that the page has a secure connection.
The post LocalBitcoins Users Scammed of Bitcoin in Phishing Attack, Forum Suspended appeared first on NewsBTC.
US Man Faces up to 5 Years in Prison for Unlicensed Bitcoin Sales via LocalBitcoins
n An American man has pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, having sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin on LocalBitcoins.comn
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LocalBitcoins Seller Pleads Guilty to Operating Unlicensed Business
A LocalBitcoins seller pleaded guilty of operating an illegal money transfer business in a Southern California federal court earlier today.
The defendant admitted to buying thousands of Bitcoin over a 16-month period and selling them through the popular peer-to-peer marketplace without the correct licence to do so.
Bitcoin Dealer Agrees to Forfeit Over 0,000
According to a news release from the Southern California Department of Justice, a San Diego man has pleaded guilty of operating an unlicensed money transmitting service today.
Jacob Burrell Campos admitted to illegally selling hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Bitcoin without taking necessary precautions to abide by federal financial regulations.
Campos had used the platform LocalBitcoins to advertise his operation.
According to the news release, at first he was buying the Bitcoin from a “U.S.-based, regulated exchange” and then selling them privately at a 5% premium. He would accept a range of payments including: cash, ATM deposits, and MoneyGram transfers and often communicated trades via email or SMS.
Shortly after setting up shop his initial account was shut down following a “large number of suspicious transactions”. This prompted him to move to a Hong Kong-based exchange. The report indicates that this account was used to buy .29 million BTC over a series of several transactions.
During the period between January 2015 and April 2016 Burrell is thought to have served over 1,000 independent customers sourced from LocalBitcoins. However, federal law requires money transmitting businesses of this size be registered with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of Treasury and operate according to know-your-customer and anti-money laundering regulations. The San Diego man’s operation was compliant with neither of these regulations.
Finally, the 21-year-old also admitted to being involved in a dollar smuggling operation. The combined effort of this are thought to have resulted in over million crossing the Mexico – America border between late 2016 and early 2018. The group are thought to have been arranging the transfer of amounts just under the ,000 reporting requirement.
In the plea agreement, Campos states that he is willing to forfeit 3,357 to the U.S. government. He could also receive up to five years in jail for his crimes or a 0,000 fine. The 21-year-old will be sentenced on February 19.
U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman added:
“Unlicensed money transmitting businesses, especially those operating at or near the border, pose a serious threat to the integrity of the U.S. banking system, and provide an ‘open door’ for criminals to utilize such businesses to launder the proceeds of their illicit activities.”
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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LocalBitcoins Traders Charged with Fraud for Selling Bitcoin to Thief in Kenya
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LocalBitcoins ad limits hurting Bitcoin community
When the Bitcoin price rises significantly, it attracts scammers, for multiple reasons. News gets around, and scammers like to get in early on stuff.
BitNewz.net
LocalBitcoins in Venezuela Continues to set new Trading Volume Records
In the world of peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading, LocalBitcoins is all of the rage. This platform is incredibly popular all over the world. Some regions are far more susceptible to higher trading volume compared to others, though. Venezuela has proven to be one of the hottest LocalBitcoins regions in this regard. Just last week, the country … Continue reading LocalBitcoins in Venezuela Continues to set new Trading Volume Records
The post LocalBitcoins in Venezuela Continues to set new Trading Volume Records appeared first on NEWSBTC.
LocalBitcoins in Venezuela Continues to set new Trading Volume Records
In the world of peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading, LocalBitcoins is all of the rage. This platform is incredibly popular all over the world. Some regions are far more susceptible to higher trading volume compared to others, though. Venezuela has proven to be one of the hottest LocalBitcoins regions in this regard. Just last week, the country … Continue reading LocalBitcoins in Venezuela Continues to set new Trading Volume Records
The post LocalBitcoins in Venezuela Continues to set new Trading Volume Records appeared first on NEWSBTC.