While the value of cryptocurrencies has varied wildly in the last year, this has not diminished crypto’s attractiveness to criminals. Many of them are moving their illegal activities underground and outside the view of law enforcement. Because of the public nature of most blockchains, however, this rapid movement shouldn’t be a major concern to law enforcement agencies. With the right tools and training, following the proceeds of crypto-enabled crime is actually not as difficult as it may seem. However, intelligence agencies must have a cryptocurrency investigation plan that includes the right tools to lawfully collect digital evidence and the properly …
Cryptocurrency-related crimes have slowed down in 2020, but some sectors within the crypto industry have become a new hotbed for criminal activity, a new report says. Citing major crypto analytics firm CipherTrace, Reuters reported on Nov. 10 that total losses from crypto thefts, hacks and fraud dropped from $4.4 billion in 2019 to $1.8 billion over the first 10 months of 2020. CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans said that the general decline of criminal activity in the crypto industry is a result of increased security measures: “What we have seen is that exchanges and other cryptocurrency players have implemented more security …
Altsbit, a small cryptocurrency exchange that lost “almost all funds” in hack on Feb. 5, will shut down its services in May 2020. After Altsbit first reported on the hack on Twitter on Feb. 6, the exchange released withdrawal instructions on Feb. 9. According to the statement, the hack caused Altsbit to have lost 6.929 Bitcoin (BTC) and 23 Ether (ETH), among losses in other cryptocurrencies such as Pirate Chain (ARRR), VerusCoin (VRSC) and and Komodo (KMD). Users to be refunded from crypto in cold storage Despite a significant part of Altsbit’s crypto funds being stored on cold storage, the …
After stealing $5 million in cryptocurrency from 40 victims through SIM swapping, 20-year-old Joel Ortiz, pleaded guilty to theft and accepted a plea deal of 10 years in prison as reported by Motherboard, a division of news outlet VICE, on Feb 1. Ortiz accepted the plea deal last week, according to Erin West, the Deputy District Attorney of Santa Clara County, California. He will officially be sentenced on Mar 14. Authorities reportedly state that Ortiz is the first individual convicted of a crime for SIM swapping. "We think justice has been served. And hopefully, this is a strong message to …
Losses caused by cryptocurrency exchange hacks hit $927 million in the first nine months of 2018, already 250 percent higher than throughout all of 2017, Reuters India reports October 10. Reuters cites a Crypto Anti-Money-Laundering (AML) report for Q3 2018 from crypto intelligence firm CipherTrace, which pitted the $927 million figure against last year’s $266 million total. According to the report, “smaller” thefts of crypto worth between $20-60 million are also steadily rising, hitting $173 million in the third quarter. Reuters interviewed CipherTrace CEO Dave Jevans, who is also chairman of the global anti-cybercrime organization, the Anti-Phishing Working Group. Jevans …