Crytpocurrency Not a Safe Way to Launder Your Stolen Money

DooKey

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Europol recently caught the mastermind of the plot to hack over $1B from financial institutions back in 2013. The criminals tricked banks into downloading fake ATM software and this allowed them to empty out the ATMs at will. Once they got the cash they put in in bank accounts and then bought cryptocurrency with the proceeds. Thanks to the efforts of Europol they were able to track all of the transactions in the blockchain and this eventually led to the criminals themselves. Just remember boys and girls that the blockchain shows all and it may be anonymous, but there's still a record of the transaction in the blockchain.

But even though transactions are anonymous, each one is still recorded on a public digital ledger. It’s not that hard to trace any given transaction back to the wallets used to launder money. Indeed, a study published earlier this year found that it’s relatively easy to retroactively track black-market bitcoin transactions to existing public accounts, even when the transactions were conducted several years ago or on sites that no longer exist, like Silk Road.
 
Does that mean they can start tracking down ransomware demands in the same manner!?
Not enough money involved. We'll have to wait until the ransom lock screens start popping up on nu-coo-lar subs and at NSA headquarters before they start doing anything serious like that.:p
 
*cue the zombified miners crawling out of the woodwork to maul any threat to the idea cryptocrap is anything but good, while they devour eletricity to stay alive!*

<grabs some popcorn>

WOOT!
 
Isn't this a good thing in the end? Make money laundering way harder...

Still stands that blockchain may be the best path forward for things like Medical Records and Credit Scores etc.
 
Does that mean they can start tracking down ransomware demands in the same manner!?

No, that would mean that they would be duty-bound to return the illegally gotten funds back to the rightful owner. That doesn't generate taxes or income for the government or its employees. Thus it is a worthless endeavor.
 
Somehow, I feel a little safer knowing this. Don't know why, but I do.
 
Does that mean they can start tracking down ransomware demands in the same manner!?

No.

The victims of this attack were banks. Big banks have money to 'influence' the public agencies to investigate.

Ransomware, drugs, and child sex traffic aren't affecting rich people, so no need to investigate it.
 
A transaction system providing irrefutable traceability of evidence of existent transaction between one entity and another exposed via a publicly viewable interface known colloquially as a blockchain is ........ exposing fraudulent activity.



Maybe those Silk Road folks were idiots after all.
 
That's why anonymous, fungible cryptos are being developed. Not advocating crime, but freedom from government oversight would be nice.
 
No.

The victims of this attack were banks. Big banks have money to 'influence' the public agencies to investigate.

Ransomware, drugs, and child sex traffic aren't affecting rich people, so no need to investigate it.
The market economy in short.
 
No, that would mean that they would be duty-bound to return the illegally gotten funds back to the rightful owner. That doesn't generate taxes or income for the government or its employees. Thus it is a worthless endeavor.

I've been scammed from a shop before. Person went to jail, on probation, and is now paying back what he scammed. The state government is involved in the case and they are taking a cut of the money that is being paid back to me. They're taking like a 20% cut.

It's highly likely that the government will take a cut of the money, as they went through the legwork to get it back.
 
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