Topic: INTERPOL arrested 5,500 seizures worth over $400 million (Read 120 times)

I, too, have some interesting information to add.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-04/crypto-rich-russian-networks-moving-oligarch-billions-shut-down-by-uk
Crypto-Rich Russian Networks Moving Oligarch Billions Shut Down by UK
NCA uncovers laundromat offering to swap cash for crypto
Networks moved funds for organized crime, tycoons, oligarchs

And a free resource for news from bloomberg
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/uk-us-clamp-down-on-money-laundering-rings-allegedly-favored-by-russian-oligarchs-and-western-drug-gangs/ar-AA1vgN1Z

"UK, US clamp down on money laundering rings allegedly favored by Russian oligarchs and Western drug gangs
UK and US authorities on Wednesday announced a major crackdown on a pair of billion-dollar money laundering rings that officials say has cleaned money for Russia’s elite, cybercriminals and drug-runners around the world.

A typical money laundering cycle through the networks goes something like this, according to NCA: Cybercriminals in Russia need somewhere to send their cryptocurrency, so they swap it for cash with a drug gang in the UK. The drug gang then uses the crypto to buy drugs from a South American cartel and sell those drugs on the streets of the UK. The money launders take the cash from the drug sale and move it from the UK into the legitimate global banking system."

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I want to comment on this nonsense that is written in red and I am interested in the opinion of people from UK.
I want to say that in Russia the largest shadow market of cryptocurrency exchange, and complex schemes to use is unprofitable. Cryptocurrency is scrubbed through mixers and exchanges and legalized in any countries where it is legal and does not cause big checks, and then legal money comes to the USA and Europe.

In Russia, drugs have not been sold for cash for a long time, usually bank transfers to drops (money mules) or cryptocurrency are used for payments, and then the buyer receives the coordinates of the place where the drug is hidden. If a criminal needs cache, he will exchange cryptocurrency on the shadow market.
Do they buy drugs with cash in the UK?

There has been an increase of these cybercriminals globally. They are becoming sophisticated and globally connected. These criminals can use diverse means and can provide any document to claim that they are legitimate. Recently a coordinated operation of law enforcement agencies discovered a highly coordinated cybercrime organization that is largely made up of Chinese citizens. These people entered the country and rented a big house in the outskirt of the city even paid for police protection. They were secretly engaging in hacking and other scams before they were apprehended.

 

Nigeria Police Force busts cybercrime syndicate, arrests 113 foreign nationals

That is a good one, some of these scammers use very sophisticated techniques, and even if it is still a cheap scam trick for persons with a lot of crypto knowledge, it can easily deceive a newbie or someone who is greedy. The joint operation yielded good results, i completely stand against cyber crime and any other form of illicit business, if more of this operation will lead to less and less of these heinous crimes, then i welcome more of such cooperation.

These are just a few examples out of the countless cybercrime schemes that show how technology is used to manipulate and deceive victims. Most of the time the ones who fall for these schemes are those unaware of cybersecurity especially in the crypto space. Even I have encountered different scam attempts, the most recent one I experienced was a romance scam on a platform that features voice and live streaming where you need to top-up and gamble so they're really everywhere. For people like us who know how to verify scams from legitimate activities we won't easily fall into their traps.

Really depends on the country on where the crimes happened. Just look at the case of SBF, we thought that he should be getting like 40 years in prison, but he just got 20 and it could be reduce if he shows good behavior. But there are countries who committed fraud and caught and be sent for the rest of their lives.


That could be the best scenario here, maybe they read this piece of news. And maybe they have already been a victim and their whole account has been emptied and that is really very hard to recover and we can only hope that those will not to to lengths to take their lives because we have seen it before. They should look for professional help if they are suffering from depression due to them being a victim of this crimes.

True, it's very satisfying to hear and read this kind of news specially in the world that we live in right now. I just spoke to my niece from abroad and yeah, this is really happening somewhere else and there are many victims. She is in England working and most of the victims are elderly according to them as they easily can be fooled by this criminals into thinking that they are talking to a person that has no intention of harming them, like stealing their crypto.

Everyone can be a victim, but this criminals might be selectively targeting age groups like seniors because they can easily be convince. Self-awareness is the best weapon here, and maybe if we have people in circles that might be connected to some old people, then maybe we can tell this stories and warn those people.

And what's important is that the authorities are working very hard to track down and cooperation is really needed to take this big crimes. This is a organization already as it involved cross borders crimes and the money that we are talking about here, half a billion.

Hopefully, if others have reading this and they could be potentially talking to another criminal groups, might wake up and not be the next statistics in this crime and stop talking to those supposedly friends of them who's intention is to steal their hard earn money.

I saw this news on X the other day and it made my day. More global operations like this should be carried out. These criminals have to be apprehended and made to suffer for their crimes. They need to be locked up for a long time. And to their victims, I hope to recover all that they have lost one way or another. I also hope that they get the needed psychological help to cope with the loss. And for those have read this, we should know that anyone can be a victim - we should take all measures and educate ourselves on these scams to reduce the probability of us being their next victim.

Interpol operations across several continent netted arrest of 5,500 individuals and seizing $400 million.


https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2024/INTERPOL-financial-crime-operation-makes-record-5-500-arrests-seizures-worth-over-USD-400-million

So it's a huge effort on them, as this criminals are preying on their helpless victims. They deemed this  “USDT Token Approval Scam”, in which criminals attack their victims on the assumption that they are real and genuine and so once the criminals gain their trust, they will be sent with a phishing link. And obviously once they click it, the criminals are going to take over their account and withdraw their USDT without their knowledge.