Topic: How feds have been able to identify the users of the largest child porn website - page 2. (Read 281 times)
October 17, 2019, 10:55:53 PM
At least there is a positive outcome with kyc process, if not for kyc the exchange wouldn't have been able to provide some of the identities behind those wallets, this is some of the negative side of crypto, because of it's anonymity people can use it for illegal purposes, now we understand why the authorities are so against it, there is a good side and bad side to everything.
October 17, 2019, 10:41:44 PM
This case clearly showed that the state-regulated bitcoin, as well as the bulk of other cryptocurrencies, with KYC checks, are the most documented types of means of payment. Now, apparently, conventional means of payment will even have greater anonymity than cryptocurrency. However, the most anonymous will remain old and reliable paper money.
Of course, if you take the necessary precautions, including if you use Monero and other anonymous cryptocurrencies, then in general it will remain completely anonymous, provided that the user evades the KYC procedure.
That is, informed users can continue to remain anonymous when using cryptocurrency. Under these conditions, there is a demand for fully decentralized exchanges that will not request KYC, and if there is demand, there will be an offer.
Of course, if you take the necessary precautions, including if you use Monero and other anonymous cryptocurrencies, then in general it will remain completely anonymous, provided that the user evades the KYC procedure.
That is, informed users can continue to remain anonymous when using cryptocurrency. Under these conditions, there is a demand for fully decentralized exchanges that will not request KYC, and if there is demand, there will be an offer.
October 17, 2019, 09:28:36 PM
Those people are so stupid... I don't understand what's going through their mind for them. Why would they engage in criminal acts with coins that they purchase off a exchange where they have verified their identity. Would have expected them to at least purchase their coins via an OTC service, or at least an exchange that didn't have their kyc information. This kinda showcases how bitcoin isn't as anonymous as people think it is...
Not anymore. Bitcoin can now be considered as a "public" cryptocurrency. And though this may not be good news for the criminals, I am actually happy with this because from now on no one can be claiming that with Bitcoin criminals can flourish. In fact, using Bitcoin, there can be more criminals that can be traced, tracked and be incarcerated compared if these people are using the usual fiat money. Maybe it is time that we weed out these people from Bitcoin so as to improve its "shady" image to the general population and the regulators. Our society has no place for child pornography or even illicit drugs.
October 17, 2019, 09:22:45 PM
other than the criminal being stupid thinking they won't be traced because they thought bitcoin is completely anonymous. it also show
the importance of KYC in exchanges. although I am not a huge fan of KYC but it has it's purpose and right now one of it's purpose has
been shown and it helped tracked down hundreds of pedophiles around the world.
the importance of KYC in exchanges. although I am not a huge fan of KYC but it has it's purpose and right now one of it's purpose has
been shown and it helped tracked down hundreds of pedophiles around the world.
October 17, 2019, 09:09:54 PM
Some people are scared to undergo the KYC procedure because of possible leak of personal information. Well, in this case KYC helped a lot in shutting down the website and catching those pedophiles. This is a good move the authorities did, tracing blockchain transactions and coordinating with exchange to gain information about the address where the transaction came from. For the culprits, I think it is a stupid mistake that they used such platform in doing illegal transactions, where they know they can be traced with their identities saved om the platform.
October 17, 2019, 06:06:01 PM
Those people are so stupid... I don't understand what's going through their mind for them. Why would they engage in criminal acts with coins that they purchase off a exchange where they have verified their identity.
Would have expected them to at least purchase their coins via an OTC service, or at least an exchange that didn't have their kyc information.
This kinda showcases how bitcoin isn't as anonymous as people think it is...
Would have expected them to at least purchase their coins via an OTC service, or at least an exchange that didn't have their kyc information.
This kinda showcases how bitcoin isn't as anonymous as people think it is...
October 17, 2019, 05:45:39 PM
Very interesting, feds did great job! But these people who got cauch are really dumb (fortunately). Because spending Bitcoins on Dark Web directly from exchanges and centralised wallets isn't very smart idea. They probably thought that using Bitcoins is enought to stay anonymous. But they didn't thought about KYC and that exchanges knows everything about them and that feds can ask them to give information about user.
But obviously not all people were identified. As seen in image, some people used mixers or websites or decentralised wallets.
But obviously not all people were identified. As seen in image, some people used mixers or websites or decentralised wallets.
October 17, 2019, 12:09:10 PM
Welcome To Video: How the website worked
Welcome to Video (WTV) was a child pornography website that operated out of South Korea and allowed users to buy content with Bitcoin or to upload their own. Upon signing up for the site, users received a unique Bitcoin address where they could send funds to buy content to view.
When law enforcement shut down the site, they seized over 8 terabytes of child pornography, making it one of the largest siezures of its kind. The site had 1.3 million Bitcoin addresses registered. Between 2015 and 2018, the site received nearly $353,000 worth of Bitcoin across thousands of individual transactions.
Taking down Welcome to Video
Cybercrime transcends national borders. Welcome to Video had a global customer and contributor base requiring cross-border collaboration among law enforcement agencies across the world. IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and other agencies used Chainalysis software to analyze blockchain transactions and map out contributors and users of the site. This enabled them to disseminate the blockchain evidence to their partners in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia, and ultimately make arrests.
With the site’s listed Bitcoin address, IRS-CI and HSI used Chainalysis Reactor, our investigations product, to analyze transaction activity and build a graph showing the flow of funds in and out of the WTV address.
Here we see that WTV received funds from several different exchanges. This information allowed IRS-CI to contact exchanges for more information on the addresses sending money to WTV. Because exchanges typically perform Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, many were able to provide copies of identification, addresses, and other relevant transactions associated with those accounts. While in many cases the information supplied by the exchanges was enough to identify WTV users, in other cases IRS-CI was able to combine the account information with open source intelligence and standard investigative techniques to identify users.
Chainalysis tools then augmented the work done by IRS-CI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to break down regionally-specific information. This both helped law enforcement teams around the world make arrests related to WTV, and understand how blockchain evidence can be used to take down sites like WTV more generally.
By March 2018, agents arrested the WTV owner and shut down the site.
https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/chainalysis-doj-welcome-to-video-shutdown
The US Department of Justice announcement unveils the identity of 34 american, 2 british and one korean people.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-korean-national-and-hundreds-others-charged-worldwide-takedown-largest-darknet-child
Welcome to Video (WTV) was a child pornography website that operated out of South Korea and allowed users to buy content with Bitcoin or to upload their own. Upon signing up for the site, users received a unique Bitcoin address where they could send funds to buy content to view.
When law enforcement shut down the site, they seized over 8 terabytes of child pornography, making it one of the largest siezures of its kind. The site had 1.3 million Bitcoin addresses registered. Between 2015 and 2018, the site received nearly $353,000 worth of Bitcoin across thousands of individual transactions.
Taking down Welcome to Video
Cybercrime transcends national borders. Welcome to Video had a global customer and contributor base requiring cross-border collaboration among law enforcement agencies across the world. IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and other agencies used Chainalysis software to analyze blockchain transactions and map out contributors and users of the site. This enabled them to disseminate the blockchain evidence to their partners in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia, and ultimately make arrests.
With the site’s listed Bitcoin address, IRS-CI and HSI used Chainalysis Reactor, our investigations product, to analyze transaction activity and build a graph showing the flow of funds in and out of the WTV address.
Here we see that WTV received funds from several different exchanges. This information allowed IRS-CI to contact exchanges for more information on the addresses sending money to WTV. Because exchanges typically perform Know Your Customer (KYC) processes, many were able to provide copies of identification, addresses, and other relevant transactions associated with those accounts. While in many cases the information supplied by the exchanges was enough to identify WTV users, in other cases IRS-CI was able to combine the account information with open source intelligence and standard investigative techniques to identify users.
Chainalysis tools then augmented the work done by IRS-CI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to break down regionally-specific information. This both helped law enforcement teams around the world make arrests related to WTV, and understand how blockchain evidence can be used to take down sites like WTV more generally.
By March 2018, agents arrested the WTV owner and shut down the site.
https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/chainalysis-doj-welcome-to-video-shutdown
The US Department of Justice announcement unveils the identity of 34 american, 2 british and one korean people.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/south-korean-national-and-hundreds-others-charged-worldwide-takedown-largest-darknet-child
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