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Major Law Enforcement Operation Seizes 300 Crime Rings, Millions In Crypto Recovered

Richard Marley
June 09, 2021
3 minutes read
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Millions in crypto seized, 300 criminal syndicates raided and arrested.

In today’s financial crime news, one of the largest operations against encrypted criminal activity to date has successfully busted 300 crime rings and seized millions in cryptocurrency.

A press release from Europol, (European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation) revealed on Tuesday that this operation is part of its three-year investigation against major criminal mobs and involves the surveillance of 27 million messages via an encrypted messaging platform.

Since 2019, the FBI and Australian Federal Police (AFP) have joined hands to develop and covertly operate ANOM, an encrypted device company.

According to the release, ANOM used its encrypted devices to unveil 300 criminal rings that were operating across 100 countries. The operation also caught Italian organized crimes, international drug trafficking organizations, and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

The Australian Federal Police Commissioner commented”

“The FBI provided an encrypted communications platform while the AFP deployed the technical capability that helped unmask some of the biggest criminals in the world.”

The aim of the new platform provided by the FBI was to target global criminal organizations, drug traffickers, and money laundering schemes by offering organized crime networks an encrypted device with attractive features

Features included remote wipe and duress passwords. This assisted in persuading criminal organizations to select ANOM’s product over other encrypted devices available in the market.

After adequate information and 450,000 photos sent by the criminals were compiled, Operation Trojan Shield/OTF Greenlight began.

Operation Trojan Shield/OTF Greenlight

Operation Trojan was conducted by the FBI, the U.S. DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, the Dutch National Police and the Swedish Police Authority, and 16 other countries.

Police raids took place across Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom including Scotland, and the U.S.

🚨Operation Trojan Shield delivers a major blow to organised crime worldwide 🚨#Europol supported 🇺🇸 @FBISanDiego @DEAHQ 🇳🇱 @Politie 🇸🇪 @Polisen_Sverige 🇦🇺 @AusFedPolice

🌏+16 countries involved in this international, multi-agency effort: https://t.co/HApkAkr4V3 #TrojanShield pic.twitter.com/hE20AFPcox

— Europol (@Europol) June 8, 2021

After 700 houses were searched, 800 individuals were arrested belonging to 300 criminal gangs, eight tons of cocaine was seized along with 22 tons of cannabis, and 2 tons of amphetamine and methamphetamine.

Apart from this, 250 firearms and 55 luxury vehicles were confiscated. The release also mentioned that more than USD 48 million worth of global currencies, including cryptocurrencies, have been recovered.

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UK's Financial Watchdog Goes Real-time to Catch Online Criminals
Millions in crypto seized, 300 criminal syndicates raided and arrested.
Operation Trojan Shield/OTF Greenlight
The FCA is sweeping the internet on a day-to-day basis to pull out cybercriminals, as the number of warnings sent out continues to increase.

Britain’s financial regulator is forced to weed out scammers of the internet in real-time on a daily basis due to ever-increasing online fraud. An official of the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) stated that fraudsters are often based outside the country, making this step necessary.

The FCA’s director for enforcement, Mark Steward, stated that the warning has become the basis of the fight against increasing financial scams, particularly since the onset of the pandemic as the lockdown shifted more people online.

In the previous year, the FCA issued 1200 warnings related to social media scams made by fake companies as such companies are unregulated by Britain’s watchdog. The number of warnings made was twice the size of the warnings made in 2019, Steward told parliament’s Treasury Select Committee

He further announced:

“We are now issuing warnings straight away, we are conducting sweeps several times a day of the internet and issuing warnings within 24 hours, so they are up-to-date,”

With rapid warnings, not only can the number of victims be reduced, but banks can also take notice of which individual is present on the warning list to stay cautious, stated Steward. This means that lenders can verify customer identities that may be involved in fraudulent activities prior to taking payments on behalf of such criminals.

He also commented that while online financial scams are not as widespread as traditional banking fraud, they are nonetheless on the rise and being used by criminals to steal sensitive customer data.

According to UK’s Action Fraud, victims of investment scams lost as much as 83 million pounds (USD 89 million) last year. This amount makes almost a 10th of the total 784 million lost to financial scams in the previous year.

Google is also being paid by the FCA to publish the warning online. Steward stated that Google had offered it a “credit” on future warnings.

“The irony of us having to pay social media to publish warnings about advertising they are receiving money from is not lost on us,” Steward said.

Suggested Read: Rising Social Media Scams in 2020 Calling for Digital Identity Verification

Britain has proposed an “online harms” law, but it does not require social media companies to check on the validity of firms advertising financial products.

However, the FCA wishes to make such checks obligatory under the law.

Lawmaker Anthony Browne insisted not to be overawed by the deep pockets of social media companies, claiming that Google itself might be guilty of fraud through advertising scams.

Steward also asserted that the ball is in the court of social media companies, making it their responsibility now to tackle increasing online financial scams.

Read Also: Looking for Online Fraud Prevention? Here Is What You Can Do

Major Law Enforcement Operation Seizes 300 Crime Rings, Millions In Crypto Recovered

Millions in crypto seized, 300 criminal syndicates raided and arrested.

Operation Trojan Shield/OTF Greenlight

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EIDAS Regulations for the United Kingdom

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1. NFC-based ID Verification

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In a Nutshell…

Let’s prove your

customer’s identity

with Shuftipro.

Let’s prove your customer’s

identity with Shuftipro.

Major Law Enforcement Operation Seizes 300 Crime Rings, Millions In Crypto Recovered

Millions in crypto seized, 300 criminal syndicates raided and arrested.

Operation Trojan Shield/OTF Greenlight

What is an eID?

Impact of the eIDAS Regulations

EIDAS Regulations for the United Kingdom

Amalgamation of eIDAS and AMLD – Digital Single Market

The Legislative Framework for ID Verification by eIDAS

Interoperability of eIDs as per eIDAS

Shufti Pro’s IDV Suite – Answer to the Shifting ID Verification Trends

1. NFC-based ID Verification

2. Video Interview KYC

In a Nutshell…

Let’s prove your

customer’s identity

with Shuftipro.

Let’s prove your customer’s

identity with Shuftipro.