The FBI and Ukrainian law enforcement have seized the domain names of nine digital currency exchanges suspected of aiding and abetting cybercriminals.
According to a May 1 press release, the FBI's Detroit field office and the Ukrainian National Police “conducted court-authorized coordinated activities” that resulted in the closure and seizure of the domain names of nine virtual currency exchange services. The domains seized included the websites 24xbtc.com, 100btc.pro, pridechange.com, trust-exchange.org, and bitcoin24.exchange. Each company reportedly offers its users fully anonymous digital currency exchange services, bypassing many of the rules and regulations required of licensed cryptocurrency exchanges.
Anyone trying to access the sites will see a confusion notice from the authorities. The FBI noted that the exchanges offered services in both English and Russian, had “lax” anti-money laundering measures, and collected minimal or “none” know-your- customer information. These rogue, permissionless transactions "are important hubs in the cybercrime ecosystem," the FBI claims.
Many of these virtual currency exchanges were "advertised on online forums devoted to criminal activity," according to the agency. "The majority of criminal activity on affected exchanges involved cyber actors responsible for ransomware, but other scammers and cyber Criminals were also involved." Over The past few months, the FBI has been embroiled in a number of cryptocurrency-related issues. On April 27, the FBI raided the home of former FTX executive Ryan Salame because he was one of Sam Bankman-Fried's former top advisers.
On February 3, the FBI seized 86.5 ETH and two non-fungible tokens worth over $100,000 reportedly from phishing scammers. The seizure is the result of a long-running investigation by independent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, who first exposed the activity on Twitter in September 2022 .
