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Russian police have shut down five cryptocurrency exchanges, which investigators claim were used by drug traffickers on an unnamed darknet forum and darknet marketplace. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) has not disclosed the addresses of the exchanges.
The exchanges served as a tool for “converting crypto assets obtained through criminal activity into traditional currency,” the MVD announced. The police state that the organizers of the marketplace utilized technological solutions to ensure user anonymity and report that they have obtained data on approximately 185,000 cryptocurrency exchange transactions.
Searches were conducted in the offices of the exchanges, where law enforcement seized computer equipment, documents, cash, cryptocurrency, as well as records and “other items of significance to the investigation.”
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The MVD claims that police prepared the operation for more than a year. Since last August, five suspects, whom investigators consider to be moderators of the darknet forum, have been detained. They have been charged with organizing a criminal community, and all defendants are in custody, facing up to 20 years in prison. The masterminds behind the scheme and other participants are still at large.
Recently, law enforcement officers in Moscow liquidated a cryptocurrency exchange and detained five of its employees. The trigger was a complaint from a 73-year-old pensioner who reported that police had tricked her into handing over a large sum of money.
In early August, the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia announced the arrest of about 20 employees of cryptocurrency exchanges at the Moscow-City business center, suspected of aiding fraudsters. Law enforcement officials stated that they had shut down nine cryptocurrency exchanges, “cutting off channels for transferring money abroad using cryptocurrency.” According to the FSB, Ukrainian call centers were using these platforms to launder money stolen from Russians.
