Category Archives: money laundering

US arrests alleged ‘Bitcoin Fog’ boss, who is accused of laundering millions

Posted on by

U.S. federal agents on Tuesday arrested the alleged operator of Bitcoin Fog, a cryptocurrency-obfuscation service that the dark web’s most notorious marketplaces have reportedly used to move tens of millions of dollars. Roman Sterlingov, a Russian-Swedish national, was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with money laundering for his alleged role as Bitcoin Fog’s mastermind, according to court documents. Created in 2011, Bitcoin Fog bills itself as a means of further anonymizing cryptocurrency transactions by separating transmitted bitcoin from a particular bitcoin address. Some $336 million in transactions were routed through Bitcoin Fog over a decade, according to a criminal complaint against Sterlingov filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. That included tens of millions of dollars laundered for dark web forums like AlphaBay and Silk Road, which were known for trafficking in drugs and hacking tools, as well as other illicit products, before being shut […]

The post US arrests alleged ‘Bitcoin Fog’ boss, who is accused of laundering millions appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading US arrests alleged ‘Bitcoin Fog’ boss, who is accused of laundering millions→

Dancho Danchev’s Cybercrime Forum Data Set for 2019 – Request a Copy Today!

Posted on by

Dear blog readers,I’ve recently updated my original “Cybercrime Forum Data Set for 2019” to include an additional dozen of publicly accessible cybercrime-frindly forum communities which are ready for processing and enrichment. With the original Data Se… Continue reading Dancho Danchev’s Cybercrime Forum Data Set for 2019 – Request a Copy Today!→

Feedzai raises $200M at a $1B+ valuation for AI tools to fight financial fraud

Posted on by

On the heels of Jumio announcing a $150 million injection this week to continue building out its AI-based ID verification and anti-money laundering platform, another startup in the space is levelling up. Feedzai, which provides banks, others in the financial sector, and any company managing payments online with AI tools to spot and fight fraud […] Continue reading Feedzai raises $200M at a $1B+ valuation for AI tools to fight financial fraud→

Exposing a Currently Active Portfolio of Personal Email Address Accounts Belonging to 419 Scammers and Related Scammers – An OSINT Analysis

Posted on by

Dear blog readers,I’ve decided to share yet another currently active portfolio of personal email address accounts belonging to high-profile and persistent 419 scammers including related scammers with the idea to assist U.S Law Enforcement including the… Continue reading Exposing a Currently Active Portfolio of Personal Email Address Accounts Belonging to 419 Scammers and Related Scammers – An OSINT Analysis→

Exposing the Modern Money Mule Recruitment Ecosystem – An In-Depth OSINT Analysis

Posted on by

Dear blog readers,I wanted to take the time and effort and present one of the most comprehensive and publicly accessible portfolio of currently active money mule recruitment domains for the purpose of assisting U.S Law Enforcement and the U.S Intellige… Continue reading Exposing the Modern Money Mule Recruitment Ecosystem – An In-Depth OSINT Analysis→

Ukrainian gets US prison term in decade-old cybercrime, money-laundering case

Posted on by

In a case that stretches back to a much simpler era for cybercrime, a Ukrainian man was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to helping launder money for Eastern Europeans who hacked into U.S. bank accounts. The U.S. Department of Justice said Aleksandr Musienko, 38, agreed to an 87-month prison term and $98,751.64 in restitution under the plea deal. From 2009 to 2012, Musienko, who sometimes used the alias Robert Davis, “partnered with Eastern European computer hackers to obtain over $3 million from U.S. victims’ bank accounts and launder the stolen funds from U.S. bank accounts overseas,” the department said Thursday in announcing the deal. Musienko ran a network of “money mules” as part of the scheme, prosecutors said. The FBI’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office took the lead in prosecuting Musienko, focusing on a specific fraud case in that state. According to a 2016 […]

The post Ukrainian gets US prison term in decade-old cybercrime, money-laundering case appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Ukrainian gets US prison term in decade-old cybercrime, money-laundering case→

Ukrainian Gets 9 Years in Prison for Trying to Steal $10M from Microsoft

Posted on by

A Ukrainian citizen received a nine-year prison sentence for a scheme in which he tried to steal $10 million from Microsoft. On November 9, the U.S. District Court in Seattle handed down the sentence to Volodymyr Kvashuk, 26, a Ukrainian citizen who wa… Continue reading Ukrainian Gets 9 Years in Prison for Trying to Steal $10M from Microsoft→

Alexander Vinnik heads to trial in France on ransomware, money laundering charges

Posted on by

Accused Russian cybercriminal Alexander Vinnik’s legal odyssey continues Monday in Paris, where he faces trial on charges of extortion, money laundering and involvement in organized crime. It’s the latest milestone in a case that spans multiple countries: Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece, which extradited him to France this year with the understanding that he was also wanted in the U.S. and Russia. French and U.S. prosecutors allege Vinnik helped create the infamous Locky ransomware and then launder the resulting bitcoin ransom payments through the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange. French prosecutors are focusing on $157 million that the alleged scheme captured from French organizations. The U.S. Department of Justice says he laundered about $4 billion while running BTC-e, which also allegedly provided services to other scams. In Russia, he faces smaller-scale charges of fraud. Vinnik’s arrival in France in January followed a nearly two-year battle over where Greek authorities would send the 41-year-old, who […]

The post Alexander Vinnik heads to trial in France on ransomware, money laundering charges appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Alexander Vinnik heads to trial in France on ransomware, money laundering charges→

Trickbot on the Ropes Part 2: The QQAAZZ Money Laundering Ring

Posted on by

While shutting down the technical aspects of malware is critical (see Trickbot on the Ropes Part 1), the real disincentive to the criminals is when you hit them hard in the money.  That was the objective of Europol’s Operation 2BaGoldMule case against … Continue reading Trickbot on the Ropes Part 2: The QQAAZZ Money Laundering Ring→

US, European authorities carry out sweeping crackdown on prolific QQAAZZ cybercriminal group

Posted on by

U.S. and European law enforcement have embarked on a coordinated crackdown on an Eastern European cybercriminal group accused of trying to launder tens of millions of dollars stolen from victims. Fourteen people have been charged for allegedly laundering money for QQAAZZ, as the group is known, the U.S. Justice Department announced Thursday. Meanwhile, houses were raided across Europe, a number of arrests were made in Latvia and a cryptocurrency mining operation was seized in Bulgaria. It’s the most significant law enforcement offensive to date against QQAAZZ, whose members are allegedly from Bulgaria, Latvia, Georgia, Romania and elsewhere. The network has allegedly operated hundreds of bank accounts throughout the world to launder money stolen by criminal hackers, sometimes converting it to cryptocurrency. They stand accused of hawking their “bank drops service” on Russia-speaking cybercriminals forums. “The criminal gangs behind some of the world’s most harmful malware families are among those cybercriminal groups […]

The post US, European authorities carry out sweeping crackdown on prolific QQAAZZ cybercriminal group appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading US, European authorities carry out sweeping crackdown on prolific QQAAZZ cybercriminal group→