Two Romanian cybercriminals were convicted in Ohio on 21 felony counts related to the infecting of 40,000 computers with malware to steal credit card and other information to sell on the dark web. The schemes included taking control of the victim's computers, which allowed the defendants to use the processing power of the computers to engage in cryptocurrency mining for the financial benefit of the group. The victims incurred losses of millions of dollars.
The NYC District Attorney reported the indictments of several individuals who operated two dark web storefronts to sell Xanax and other controlled substances in 43 states. The defendants allegedly laundered $2.3 million in cryptocurrency proceeds from their illicit activities to load prepaid debit cards, and withdrew $1 million in cash from ATMs in New York and New Jersey.
This week, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) assessed a civil money penalty against an individual for "willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act's (BSA) registration, program, and reporting requirements" in the course of the individual's operation as a "peer-to-peer exchanger of convertible virtual currency." According to a FinCEN press release, the individual failed to file required reports related to, among other things, suspicious activity involving darknet marketplaces and purchases of bitcoin for cash. The individual cooperated with FinCEN, paying a fine and agreeing to an industry bar on engaging in "money services business" activity.
Finally, it has been reported that hackers have stolen over $50 million in cryptocurrencies from wallets within the past 15 months using a new technique known as SIM Swapping. This scheme involves a criminal taking a new SIM card to a store, impersonating the victim, and switching the victim's wireless carrier number to his or her new SIM card. Soon the criminal has access to the victim's texts and can learn two-factor authentication or other information to gain access to cryptocurrency wallets. According to reports, many of these hackers are relatively young, between the ages of 18 and 26. At least one of the hackers caught has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
For more information on these developments, please follow these links:
- Two Romanian Cybercriminals Convicted of All 21 Counts Relating to Infecting Over 400,000 Victim Computers with Malware and Stealing Millions of Dollars
- A. Vance, Partners Take Down Major Dark Web Drug Seller
- Hackers Steal More Than $50 Million in Cryptocurrency in 15 Months
- FinCEN Penalizes Peer-to-Peer Virtual Currency Exchanger for Violations of Anti-Money Laundering Laws
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