Increasingly, cybercrime organizations, scammers, and hackers are using cryptocurrencies for their illegal transactions and the associated money laundering. In Ukraine, the local cybercrime unit smashed a crypto laundromat which allegedly laundered $42 million. Three suspects have been arrested in a law enforcement action in June 2020. Experts from the crypto exchange Binance helped the Ukrainian police in this.
In early 2020, the Ukraine Cyber police began working with Binance and used its industry-leading algorithms and experts to analyze and detect transactions potentially related to financial crimes and fraud. According to the press release, the unnamed group distributed ransomware, washed hacker funds to the tune of $42 million, and built a crypto laundromat over the last two years.
In June 2020, the Ukraine cyberpolice conducted a law enforcement action and arrested three individuals who face up to eight years in prison if convicted. Moreover, the police seized $200,000 in computer equipment, weapons, ammunition, cash, and “digital evidence.” The pre-trial investigation is still ongoing.
The Ukrainian law enforcement action appears to be a result of Binance’s “Bulletproof Exchangers” initiative to detect and disrupt illicit crypto actors. Binance said it “allocated additional resources” to the ongoing anti-laundering project earlier this year. Well, it seems to pay off. Bravo!
