Topic: [2018-05-22] 1000 Bitcoins Seized in Landmark Israeli Money Laundering Case (Read 150 times)

This has been simmering a while in my head, but I'm going to let you have it with both barrels.

You're a fucking idiot. (And that's saying something, because I've seen all KINDS of idiots since I've been here from 2011 onwards.)

Tainted coins? You're going to track every single one and ban them from exchanges and services? Mike Hearn wanted to do that, so did Jeff Garzik -- and they're both shunned in crypto circles because they're bad actors with increasingly worse ideas.

Again, you move the goalposts, post stupid fucking shit all over the "news" section -- just fucking fuck off with your gap-tooth windbag opinions. If I wanted the advice of a retard, I'd just go ask your mother.

Yes, if you rob an ATM you will have a bunch of useless marked banknotes. The same way you can have tainted coins! I don't get why this sounds so stupid, really.

How on earth does exchange risk translate to inherent non-fungibility?

That's idiotic.

Like saying a bank robbery makes the us dollar useless.

The problem with Bitcoin only exists because people still use electronic fiat. That is credit cards and bank accounts. It is only in the moment of conversion that you are faced with the difficulties imposed by governments.

Paper money is also anonymous. Only at the moment, you need to use a bank is that it happens to be registered in your name. For a long time, the money of some banks in Switzerland were just numbers.

Anonymity will depend on the will of society.

I'm no fud-er.
Imagine I play dice regularly and one day I win. I want those coins for me and I have them sent to my personal wallet. Then I transfer them to an exchange (fort fiat) and they get blocked. In that case no fungibility.
Yes, I'm not that stupid I'd never do that: but that's an example when I would need better fungibility.

Its pseudo-nonymous, but with the newest BIP Dandelion, in addition to Schnorr signatures - that can easily change.

Not fungible? Are you nuts? Look at exchange volume and tell me how "not fungible" it is. Anyone can transact for thier local currency with ease, or pay for services with Bitcoin directly.

Your response sounds like some of the FUD-ers that I've seen here over the years -- you should know better.

At some point in the future, these cases won't even make it to the news anymore. We get it, these things happen and it once again shows that Bitcoin isn't the superior criminal tool the media thinks it is.

There are far better crypto alternatives to do the job (obviously not stimulating anyone to use them for criminal activity), but not everyone has figured that out yet. I am however glad that this criminal has been arrested.

It's the job of the authorities to go after these people, just like how it's their job to do so when it involves fiat. Stop wasting time blaming Bitcoin, but actually invest time in getting these criminals behind bars.

Bitcoin is nothing more than a tool. People abuse it.

Another example of how online transactions not only Bitcoin payments are not secure, and what I mean by secure is vulnerable to scams mostly a lot of criminals right now have gone digital creating fake sites and phishing sites that are disguised as banks to get those credit card information are something we need to be afraid of as anyone can potentially be a victim. But let us not be wrong about this, the credit card owners are also partly at fault here, if they know the common red flags and where to look for them it will simply prevent them from giving out some important information that will lead them to losing their money.

Been a while since we saw this type of criminal caught and prosecuted, but I do wonder why the focus has been on money laundering, rather than the fraud and theft, which seems the main crimes to me. I guess the Bitcoin mention's the sexy headline grabber here.

The real crime is how this remained his modus operandi for 10 years. Did the credit card companies or even services compromised not flag his activity from early on? When you see people selling CCs and bins from the same sources, should have been enough to track them down pretty early and easily.

No need to say that cops are getting helped by those business intelligence services which are trying to understand the full story of people UTXOs. Bitcoin is neither anonymous nor fungible.

The cybercrime division of the State Attorney’s office of Hebron, Israel indicted local resident Hilmi Git on Monday for allegedly using over 800 Israeli credit cards to carry out 20,000 fraudulent transactions and laundering the money using bitcoin.

The indictment, filed in the Tel Aviv district courts, alleges that the transactions they claim Git made amount to over $280,000 and that he laundered over $8 million over the course of ten years. The $8 million dollars was stored in the form of bitcoin, and the state seized at least 1,071 BTC — funds that will be confiscated pending conviction.

Git’s alleged operation spanned 10 years and many different forums and websites which the State Prosecutor claims he set up to launder money, facilitate credit card fraud through a wide network of criminals, instruct others how to remotely access computers to rob funds, and defraud unwitting visitors to his sites.

Through one scam he apparently pretended to sell cheap mobile phones but would block users from the website after receiving payment and cut off contact with them. He would then take over the user’s profile and post messages in their name seeming to confirm receipt of their goods, luring in more victims.

Even more serious was the credit card fraud operation through which Git allegedly offered free and premium memberships to clients buying access to credit cards from Git to commit fraud. The report also claims that he published guides on his site instructing users on how to hack and rob people online as well as offering tools enabling them to do so. Local media outlet Calcalist reports that Git’s indictment contained a quote from him saying:

“We are thieves. Anywhere we can take money, we’ll take it, whether it’s from Israel, the US, or even the moon.”

The state will file to continue holding Git in custody to prevent him from regaining control of his online crime empire, stating that internet access will “enable him to continue carrying out the criminal enterprise he established over the past decade,” saying Git will “not hesitate to commit fraudulent offenses against innocent victims.”

The wallet seizure marks the first time in Israeli history that bitcoin funds have been seized by police, and upon conviction a legal precedent may be set for the state confiscation of cryptocurrency assets.

Other countries have already handled illicit bitcoins in the same way, with the US government seizing 512 BTC and 512 BCH in January from a drug dealer on the dark web and auctioning off the currency and other assets. A similar incident took place in Finland in February where 2000 bitcoins were seized from an alleged drug dealer.

Source >> https://www.ccn.com/1000-bitcoins-seized-in-landmark-israeli-money-laundering-case/