Nine cryptocurrency exchange websites have been taken down by the FBI and the Ukrainian police in a daring joint operation. Cybercriminals and ransomware gangs use these websites to launder money for cybercriminals. This is because these websites facilitate money laundering by criminals operating online. Ukrainian prosecutors' offices and the Virtual Currency Response Team were also involved in the operation.
Several virtual currency exchange services were seized by the FBI on Monday. These services may have been used by cybercriminals to launder money obtained through ransomware hacks. As a result of a collaboration between the FBI's Detroit Field Office and Ukrainian police, the Detroit FBI field office seized virtual currency exchanges used by criminals for anonymous transactions, the United States Department of Justice has announced.
There is a press release that states that the FBI also received support from the Virtual Currency Response Team (VCRT), the National Police of Ukraine, and the regional prosecutors as a result of the 'crypto exchanges' operation.
- 24xbtc.com
- 100btc.pro
- pridechange.com
- 101crypta.com
- uxbtc.com
- trust-exchange.org
- bitcoin24.exchange
- paybtc.pro
- owl.gold
These exchange servers have been shut down, and their domain names have been taken over by US authorities. Several exchanges were accused of offering anonymous cryptocurrency exchange services to website visitors. These visitors included cybercriminals, scammers, and many other bad actors, offering these services anonymously to site visitors.
The FBI has accused these crypto exchanges of being used by cyber criminals, including scammers, ransomware operators, and hackers, for laundering money. Additionally, the FBI stated that these exchanges did not have a license. This acted as support for criminal activities under US laws.
Two servers were confiscated. These servers were located in different parts of the world including the US, Ukraine, and several European countries. Cybercriminals used the exchanges to launder money from illegal activities, and the authorities are using the seized infrastructure to identify and track down those hackers.
It should be noted that both the English and Russian-language exchanges that offered similar services and avoided money laundering were censured by the FBI for the lack of anti-money laundering measures and the collection of Customer knowledge information, or none at all.
The FBI claims that these sorts of unlicensed, rogue exchanges are one of the most critical hubs of the cybercrime ecosystem.
Users have been able to convert their cryptocurrency into coins that are more difficult to track down on websites that have been seized anonymously. Hackers disguised the source of the money they stole and avoided detection by law enforcement agencies.
There is a lot of variety on these sites. Users can get live help and instructions in both Russian and English covering a wide range of cybercrime communities.
The FBI's announcement indicates that noncompliant virtual currency exchanges that operate in violation of the United States Code, Sections 1960 and 1956, act as hubs for cybercrime. They have lax anti-money laundering programs and collect little information about their customers. These exchanges are significant cybercrime centers.
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During an operation conducted by the FBI and Ukrainian police, the FBI and Ukrainian police took down nine websites known as 'crypto exchanges'. These websites were well known for serving as money launderers for ransomware groups and cyber criminals. As part of an organized campaign, the daring action was undertaken by a cybercriminal who wanted to destroy the digital infrastructure that allows him to make money from his malicious actions by “interfering” with it and using it for his malicious goals.
