The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that it had halted the operation of a network of ‘underground cryptocurrency exchanges’ in Kyiv.
According to the agency, up to 30 million hryvnias (more than $1 million) were processed monthly through them, services mainly used by individuals who received funds from electronic wallets prohibited in Ukraine—Yandex.Money, Qiwi and Webmoney.
‘The network operated since the beginning of 2021. It served more than 1,000 clients during that period,’ the SBU said.
During the exchange operations, the network took 5% to 10% of the transfer amount, law enforcement officials say.
The SBU conducted five searches in several districts of Kyiv, seized equipment with evidence of illegal activity and software that allowed concealing the perpetrators’ actual whereabouts, as well as documents of Ukrainian-registered fictitious enterprises used to launder funds.
Law enforcement authorities confiscated foreign currency worth 1 million hryvnias (about $37,000).
A criminal case has been opened under Article 209 of the Criminal Code, ‘Money laundering of funds obtained by crime’ and Article 200, ‘Illegal actions with documents for transfers, payment cards and other means of access to bank accounts, electronic money, and equipment for their production’.
Earlier in April, the SBU announced the bust of a group allegedly involved in money laundering and illegal transfers.
HackControl CEO Nikita Knysh said that it involved a cryptocurrency and offline exchange, owned by his ‘partners in another business’. He called the charges of fraud and money laundering unfounded.
In June, Ukrainian cyber police announced that they had identified hackers of the Clop group and blocked channels for laundering cryptocurrency obtained by crime. According to ForkLog’s source, searches were conducted on OTC traders through whom the Bitcoins of the Clop operators passed, not on the hackers themselves. They were not arrested.
Later, the Binance exchange confirmed its involvement in the operation by Ukrainian law enforcement to identify those who laundered funds for the Clop hackers.
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