DOJ prosecutors hint a path of stolen Bitcoin from hijacked telephones by way of a fancy net of wallets, culminating in a collection of round transactions at a web-based on line casino designed to masks the illicit funds’ origins.
Abstract
- DOJ has filed civil forfeiture to get better $5 million in Bitcoin stolen through SIM swap assaults.
- The division traced the stolen crypto by way of a number of wallets and round transactions at a web-based on line casino.
- Assaults focused 5 U.S. victims between October 2022 and March 2023.
Based on a September 9 press launch by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, District of Columbia, the Division of Justice has initiated a civil forfeiture motion focusing on a selected cryptocurrency pockets containing 117 BTC.
The criticism alleges the funds are the proceeds of a collection of SIM swap assaults that focused 5 victims between October 2022 and March 2023. U.S. Legal professional Jeanine Ferris Pirro said that after the preliminary thefts, the perpetrators moved the Bitcoin by way of a maze of digital wallets earlier than consolidating your entire $5 million haul right into a single deal with that funded an account on the on-line on line casino Stake.com.
How the SIM swap scheme unfolded and the DOJ’s response
DOJ investigators say the perpetrators used SIM swap assaults to bypass commonplace safety measures and acquire management of victims’ cellular numbers. With the stolen numbers, they intercepted two-factor authentication codes that allowed them to log in to the victims’ crypto wallets and switch property into accounts beneath their management.
The Justice Division defined that the perpetrators tried to obscure the origin of the funds by repeatedly biking the bitcoin by way of deposits and withdrawals on the on line casino.
“Many of those transactions had been round in that they finally returned funds to their authentic supply, and according to cash laundering utilized to “clear” proceeds of prison exercise,” the assertion learn.
The laundering sample, prosecutors say, made it seem as if the funds had been reputable enterprise exercise relatively than proceeds of theft. This high-profile case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jessica Peck and Gaelin Bernstein of the Justice Division’s Laptop Crime and Mental Property Part (CCIPS), alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Columbia.
