Tag Archives: Crime

South Korean lawmaker Kim Nam-kook sentenced to prison for concealing $7.5M in cryptocurrency, sparking calls for stricter regulation. A South Korean congressman has been sentenced to six months in prison for concealing his crypto holdings. Former Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Nam-kook hid assets worth 9.9 billion won ($6.8 million) and 990 million won ($680,000) between 2021 and 2022. This was a breach of the law that bars public officials from holding any property without declaring it to...

Texas man Frank Ahlgren sentenced to two years for crypto tax evasion, ordered to pay $1M restitution to the U.S. Frank Richard Ahlgren III, an early Bitcoin investor from Austin, Texas, has been sentenced to two years in prison for tax evasion. Ahlgren filed false tax returns from 2017 to 2019, underreporting gains from selling over $4 million worth of Bitcoin. These actions resulted in a tax loss of over $1 million. This is the first criminal tax fraud case that was focused on...

Moroccan authorities arrest five suspects for a crypto fraud case, targeting foreign citizens to steal and liquidate digital assets. Moroccan authorities have arrested five individuals for their alleged involvement in a cryptocurrency fraud scheme. The arrests were made in Salé earlier this week, following a complaint received through international law enforcement channels. The suspects range from 24 to 48 years old and are accused of conducting a phishing scheme that targeted foreign...

Russia has sentenced Marat Tambiyev, a former mid-ranking investigator, to 16 years in jail after he was caught accepting a bribe of 1,032 bitcoins, which is currently worth around $65 million, from hackers he was investigating. The bribe originated from members of the Infraud Organization hacking group, which Tambiyev was tasked with probing while working for the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR). Russia’s Bribery Scandal Tambiev has been with the ICR since 2011,...

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) expressed deep concern about crypto’s role in facilitating illicit activities across Southeast Asia. It notes that the existing underground banking infrastructure, including underregulated casinos, junkets, and illegal online gambling platforms, has increasingly adopted crypto as a tool for crime. UNODC Raises Alarm Over Crypto In its latest report, the UN agency claimed that the rise of high-risk virtual asset service...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has imposed sanctions on Cambodian businessman Ly Yong Phat and his businesses, including his conglomerate L.Y.P. Group and the O-Smach Resort. This move, disclosed on Thursday, stands in response to their roles in human trafficking and forced labour as connected with cryptocurrency fraud. The penalties have been imposed to prevent and curtail human rights abuses and other related offenses. OFAC of the Treasury said that Ly Yong Phat businesses engaged in...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released its cryptocurrency fraud report 2023, revealing that Americans lost an astonishing $5.6 billion due to crypto-related scams. This is an increase of 45% compared to the previous year. The report reveals that a tenth of all complaints reported to the FBI involved cryptocurrency-related scams. However, as highlighted above, these complaints contributed to nearly half of the overall losses. This has brought out...

The T3 Financial Crime Unit will work to reduce criminal activity associated with USDT on Tron, collaborating with law enforcement agencies to hold criminals accountable and make victims whole. The largest stablecoin issuer, Tether, Justin Sun-created Tron, and blockchain intelligence platform TRM Labs have collaborated to launch the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU). The alliance will allow Tether to identify and report crime-related USDT transactions on the Tron network. The Majority of USDT...

The recent hack of the cryptocurrency exchange WazirX has witnessed a significant development. The hackers have transferred 2,600 ETH, worth approximately $6.5 million, to Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer that is under U.S. sanctions. This action, identified by the security firm PeckShield, is a common technique used by cybercriminals to obscure the trail of stolen funds and make it more challenging for authorities to trace and recover them. On the 18th of July 2024, WazirX was struck by...

August marked a worrying time for the industry as cybercriminals ransacked hundreds of millions of dollars. With the number of hacks and scams rising tremendously this year, August marked another bad month in terms of the amounts lost to cybercriminals. August witnessed about $313 million scammed from crypto holders and platforms. Blockchain security firm PeckShield shone a light on this, stating, “August 2024 witnessed 10+ hacks in the crypto space, resulting in ~$313.86 million in losses....