Skip to main content

Australian Police Confiscate Cryptocurrency Worth $1 Million With Help From FBI

Australian Police Confiscate Cryptocurrency Worth $1 Million With Help From FBI

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed that the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ordered the forfeiture of cryptocurrency belonging to a convicted hacker. “The amount of cryptocurrency forfeited, more than $1.2 million, is the largest Commonwealth forfeiture of cryptocurrency,” the AFP said.

‘Largest Commonwealth Forfeiture of Cryptocurrency’

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) announced Friday that a convicted hacker “has been ordered to forfeit more than $1.66 million [Australian dollars] in cryptocurrency and cash to the Commonwealth.”

The 23-year-old Sydney offender pleaded guilty to various criminal offenses in October last year. The AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) “obtained restraining orders over cryptocurrency plus bank and Paypal accounts held in false names, but suspected to be controlled by the man,” the AFP explained.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales ordered the forfeiture of his 1.66 million Australian dollars to the Commonwealth Confiscated Assets Account last week, including more than AU$1.2 million (US$902,276) in cryptocurrency. The AFP detailed:

The amount of cryptocurrency forfeited, more than $1.2 million, is the largest Commonwealth forfeiture of cryptocurrency.

The funds will be redistributed by Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews to support crime prevention, law enforcement, and community safety-related initiatives, the announcement describes.

The Australian man conspired with a man in the U.S. “to steal the log-ins and passwords of streaming service customers and then sold them online at a cheaper rate,” the AFP added. According to reports, the Sydney man’s name is Evan McMahon. His accomplice in the U.S. was Samuel Joyner.

The investigation began after the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) referred information to the AFP in May 2018 about an account generator website that sold stolen account details for online subscription services, including Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu.

AFP cybercrime investigators subsequently executed a warrant at the Sydney man’s home and seized cryptocurrency and various evidence. He was handed a two year and two month sentence in April.

What do you think about this case? Let us know in the comments section below.



from Bitcoin News https://ift.tt/3BxdVTY

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Deep Web Roundup: Dream Adds Monero and Bitcoin Tumbler “Chip Mixer” Launches

The darknet has been quiet of late, which is the way it’s meant to be. No news means no mega busts, honeypots, or mass market shutdowns. Even when it’s out of the spotlight though, the deep web is quietly making news, whether trialling the latest privacy coins or the newest coin mixers that promise to restore a little of the privacy that’s being stripped away from bitcoin users on a daily basis. Also read: U.S. Agency ICE Conducts Investigations That Exploit Blockchain Activity The Battle for Privacy Heats Up Privacy is all relative, but of late there’s been relatively little privacy to be enjoyed by bitcoin users. Blockchain monitoring software is becoming more sophisticated and more common, with U.S. law enforcement agencies using it to profile and hunt down deep web users. Chip Mixer is a relatively new bitcoin tumbler that’s designed to restore some of that privacy. Available on both the clearnet and darknet, the service uses a variety of techniques to obfuscate blockchain m...

International Crypto Exchange Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading

Luno exchange has added bitcoin cash trading to the platform following feedback from its client base. BCH is now only the third cryptocurrency available for trading on the exchange, in addition to BTC and ETH , but more options could be on the way once Luno determines that they are credible enough. Also Read: Bitflyer Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Across Europe and the US Luno Adds Bitcoin Cash Trading Luno, the London-headquartered company formerly known as Bitx, recently announced that bitcoin cash was made available on its cryptocurrency exchange. Starting from Monday, September 23, customers at Luno are now able to store, buy and sell BCH on the platform. The reason given for adding BCH to the exchange is feedback from users in developing markets that convinced Luno to expand their offering from previously just BTC and ETH . Marcus Swanepoel, CEO of Luno, said , “We are in a new and exciting financial era. Developing economies are leading the large-scale adoption and appli...

Ombudsman Receives Complaints About Crypto Investments in Spain

The Spanish ombudsman has been receiving complaints about cryptocurrency and how some Spanish citizens investing in these vehicles have lost everything. In his annual report, Angel Gabilondo recognized the rise of cryptocurrencies as a new problem due to the little or no regulation crypto sees in the country. In the same way, the EU has also warned about these assets recently. Spanish Ombudsman Gives His Take on Crypto Angel Gabilondo, the Spanish ombudsman, has given his take regarding cryptocurrencies and the effects they have on citizens investing in some of these projects. Gabilondo said in his yearly report that cryptocurrencies have become “a new problem” during the year examined, with many people having lost all of their funds invested. The report states : Cryptocurrency exchange companies or platforms are not regulated in the legal system, are not subject to any public supervision system, nor do they benefit from deposit guarantee systems. The affected users that sought...