The federal investigative authority of Russia reports that about 100 alleged cybercriminals connected to the cryptocurrency exchange Cryptex and the anonymous payment system UAPS have been taken into custody.
A week after Dutch and American law enforcement confiscated web domains and interfered with the exchanges’ infrastructure, the arrests had taken place. Sanctions against Cryptex and a Russian individual connected to it were also enforced by the United States. This operation is an uncommon instance of Russian law enforcement targeting cybercriminals within their own borders.
The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICRF) announced on Wednesday that Russian police carried out 148 searches in various parts of the nation and brought 96 individuals to Moscow, where a criminal probe against them had been started.
Law enforcement is seen bringing detainees from a bus to an investigator’s office for interrogations in a video that was provided to Russia’s official news agency, TASS. 1.5 billion rubles, or $16 million, were reportedly found during searches of the suspects’ St. Petersburg apartments, according to the authorities.
“The accomplices also own Robinson helicopters, expensive cars such as Bentley, Rolls Royce, Porsche, Tesla Cybertruck, boats, snowmobiles, and cash,” ICRF officials told local news agency Interfax.
The suspects could be charged with engaging in illicit banking activities, obtaining computer information without authorisation, trafficking in payment instruments, and joining a criminal organisation. Some of these offences have a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The suspected offenders, according to Russian investigators, were involved in money transfers, cryptocurrency exchanges, and the sale of personal accounts and bank cards. Cybercriminals and hackers who utilised Cryptex and UAPS to launder their illegal earnings were their main clientele.
According to their study, these services handled 112 billion rubles (about $1.2 billion) in 2023, of which nearly 3.7 billion (almost $38 million) went to suspected criminals.
The U.S. Treasury Department reports that since 2013, ransomware attacks have cost Cryptex more than $51.2 million. Additionally, over $720 million in transactions have been connected to services that are “frequently used by Russia-based ransomware actors and cybercriminals,” including mixing services, fraud shops, and the previously blacklisted virtual currency exchange Garantex.
The Treasury claimed that Sergey Ivanov, a national of Russia, has “laundered hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency for ransomware actors, initial access brokers, darknet marketplace vendors, and other criminal actors for approximately the last 20 years.” Ivanov was sanctioned by the United States last week due to his connections to illegal crypto services, such as Cryptex and UAPS.
Ivanov, also known online as “Taleon,” was accused by the Justice Department of bank fraud and money laundering after he reportedly helped the carding websites Rescator and Joker’s Stash accept payments.
Timur Shakhmametov, a fellow Russian who goes by the aliases “JokerStash” and “Vega,” was also indicted for his alleged involvement in running Joker’s Stash, a sizable online marketplace that closed in 2021 and sold credit cards and personally identifying information that had been stolen.
A reward of up to $10 million was advertised by the Department of State for information that resulted in Ivanov and Shakhmametov’s capture or conviction.
Interfax was informed by an unnamed Russian law enforcement source that Ivanov will be taken to Moscow for further investigation. It was not stated where the suspect was at the time. Additionally, it’s unknown if Russia will cooperate with the United States on the inquiry, as this hasn’t always been the case.
The operation against Cryptex and UAPS was described by Russian media as “the largest” crackdown in the nation’s cryptocurrency business.
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