18 individuals operating a credit card scam were arrested after Japanese authorities cracked their attempts at laundering money using Monero—a world’s first.
For the first time, Monero transactions were tracked to find individuals obfuscating their criminal tracks using the privacy-preserving asset. Japanese authorities achieved this feat by arresting 18 men involved in laundering over 100 million yen ($650,000).
The arrested individuals, led by 26-year-old Yuta Kobayashi, were charged with money laundering and computer fraud. Authorities have been investigating this criminal ring since August, ever since the National Police Agency’s Cyber Special Investigation Unit was formed to tackle the country’s growing cybercrime issue.
A translated version of an announcement sent to Nikkei read, “He (Kobayashi) was arrested on suspicion of defrauding the operating company of a total of 2,751,561 yen by listing fictitious products on the flea market site Mercari from June to July 2021, making it appear that purchase transactions have been completed a total of 42 times using a credit card in another person’s name.”
The ring utilized one victim’s credit card illicitly over 900 times between July 2021 and January 2022. How the card details were obtained remains unconfirmed, but authorities think it was through a phishing attack via a fake website or emails.
Crypto Crime Is on the Rise
Crypto-related criminal activity is only growing despite the industry’s maturing. 2024 looks to cross 2023 in terms of hacks and scams—this year has already seen $1.4 billion worth of stolen funds in the first half. A Hacken report mentioned that 28 attacks during this year’s third quarter led to $463.6 million in losses. The WazirX hack alone led to $235 million getting stolen.
Criminals are also taking violent measures to get victims to send their crypto. A UK man’s house was broken into this month, with three crooks threatening his life with machetes to get access to his crypto wallet. The victim was forced to transfer $4.3 million worth of assets. Luckily, the criminals did not stab him during the extortion.
In September, co-founder of and ex-Revpro Intel CEO Nick Drakon was held at gunpoint in his home with his wife and eight-month child and threatened to transfer all his crypto holdings. The criminals knew the wallets he controlled and demanded all the funds be transferred to their wallets. He served as the CEO of Revpro Intel until the incident and decided to step down right after.
