A naukri.com initiative
Wired
1d
7
Image Credit: Wired
An $8.4 Billion Chinese Hub for Crypto Crime Is Incorporated in Colorado
- Elliptic's research reveals a Chinese-language service on Telegram called Xinbi Guarantee, registered in the US, facilitating $8.4 billion in transactions, mostly from scam victims.
- The underground marketplace offers a range of illegal services including money laundering, sex trafficking, child-bearing surrogacy, and targeted harassment.
- Telegram took action to ban accounts related to Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee after being alerted to illicit activities.
- Huione Guarantee, a similar service, had facilitated $24 billion in transactions, leading to US Treasury's intervention.
- Xinbi Guarantee, although banned by Telegram, remains a hub for various criminal activities and services like dummy bank accounts and sex workers.
- Critically, Xinbi Guarantee was found to enable money laundering for North Korean state-sponsored cybercriminals, involving funds from cryptocurrency thefts.
- The market also offered services such as threats, feces throwing, and trafficking, with Xinbi Guarantee merchants providing illicit offerings like stolen data and scam facilitation.
- While Xinbi Guarantee was strikingly illegal, it was legally registered in the US, possibly to project legitimacy, yet its current status is marked as 'delinquent.'
- Chinese companies, legitimate or not, incorporating in the US is a tactic to establish credibility and formalize connections in the country.
- Both Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee relied heavily on Telegram for communication and Tether cryptocurrency for payments, contributing to the growth of Chinese-language darknet markets.
Read Full Article
Like
For uninterrupted reading, download the app