Among Crypto Crimes, the US Secret Service Seizes Over $102 Million in Digital Currencies

　　In their investigation into cybercriminals' activities, the US Secret Service confiscated up to $102 million in cryptocurrency assets. According to CNBC, which cited Secret Service data, the investigation has involved approximately 254 cases since 2015.

　　In an interview with the media program, David Smith, assistant director of investigations, stated that agents and analysts frequently actively watch the flow of Bitcoin on the blockchain in the same way that any surveillance operation is done. One of the cases probed by the Secret Service during this time period involved 900 victims in both Romania and the United States.

　　The operation involved crooks creating bogus adverts for luxury items and mailing invoices to gullible consumers, who then paid the fraudsters. According to the CNBC article, the payment collected by the criminals is frequently transferred to cryptocurrency in order to conceal their origin and actions.

　　“One of the things about cryptocurrency is it moves money at a faster pace than the traditional format,” Smith said, adding that the quick pace of transactions makes it attractive to both American consumers and criminals. “What criminals want to do is sort of muddy the waters and make efforts to obfuscate their activities. What we want to do is to track that as quickly as we can, aggressively as we can, in a linear fashion.”

　　The cessation of $102 million in digital assets demonstrates that the Secret Service's efforts are bearing fruit. While the Secret Service is best recognized for protecting US Presidents, it is also involved in high-profile cybercrime investigations.

　　With a large number of resources at their disposal, the Secret Service has uncovered a consistent pattern in which these criminals transfer their stolen cash into stablecoins in order to avoid the inherent volatility. Law enforcement agencies are beginning to see results in their crackdown on criminal crypto activity by utilizing in-house and sophisticated monitoring tools from businesses such as CertiK and Chainalysis.

　　As a reminder, WikiBit is ready to help you search the qualifications and reputation of projects in a bid to protect you from hidden dangers in this risky industry!

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