UK Fraud Office Comments on 'Increasing' Bitcoin Use By Criminals
A criminal investigatory unit in the UK is reporting that it has seen an increase in the use of bitcoin by criminals. The UK Serious Fraud Office, an independent agency within the UK government, disclosed the stance in new comments addressing whether it believes bitcoin is "being used" in criminal activity. The remarks, published yesterday, represent what appear to be the SFO’s first public statements on bitcoin. While the agency denied that it had undertaken any specific studies on the technology, the SFO said that it would consider such investigations given its mandate to look....
Related News
Although the cryptocurrency has been a preferred payment method among Darknet vendors for some time, it looks like things are only getting worse. The dark web remains a premier marketplace for stolen credentials and other information these days. With the 2016 tax season in full effect in the US, scammers are collecting information at every possible turn. With the stolen information, criminals can commit tax refund fraud. Even people who aren’t bothered to steal the information themselves, buying the details from the deep web has become relatively easy these days. It is evident the 2016 US....
Hardly any bank requires users to enter their card pin or any other form of secure authentication to process withdrawals. Bank ATMs have been attracting criminals from all over the world. Emptying these machines can be done in various ways, although careless fraud is becoming more prevalent. Cardless ATM transactions are the prime reason why criminals have a much easier time as of late. Once criminals obtain stolen bank account usernames and passwords, converting it into cash is just a few steps away. What makes fraudulent cardless ATM withdrawals so annoying is how affected customers are....
Law enforcement is catching up with criminals who use bitcoin to escape detection for their crimes. The imprisonment of Ross Ulbricht in February 2015 marks the most visible proof that criminals cannot hide their online activities. Czech national Thomas Jiikovsky was suspected of laundering $40 million in stolen bitcoins and in March police seized his assets. Trendon Shavers pleaded guilty to operating a $150 million Ponzi scheme in September, marking the first bitcoin securities fraud case. That same month, police arrested Mark Karpeles for fraud and embezzlement of $390 million from the....
G2A recently started accepting bitcoin, which does not allow for transaction chargebacks. Online gaming marketplaces suffer from a lot of fraudulent activity. Not too long ago, G2A was accused of facilitating a fraud-fueled economy. According to some people, the platform allows digital game keys to be bought with stolen credit cards. These purchased keys are then resold online, allowing criminals to effectively launder money. G2A has made some concessions in this regard by agreeing to a form of royalty payments. Moreover, their acceptance of Bitcoin transactions reduces the fraud risks....
To make the emails seem less suspicious, they all contain the signature of OPM account Manager Elis Lucas. Locky is one of the most potent forms of crypto-ransomware in existence today. Even though security researchers try to combat this malware, the developers remain one step ahead. In fact, a new phishing campaign distributing Locky ransomware has been discovered, which targets 22 potential victims. All of these users were part of the US Office of Personnel Management data breaches in 2014 and 2015. Criminals always find news ways to target potential victims with malware and ransomware.....