Busted: Britain Confiscates $700,000 in Bitcoin from Hacker

[Psicotico]

A British court will this month sentence a 26 year old cyber-fraudster, from whom Scotland Yard seized about $700,000 in bitcoin proceeds earned from cyber-crime activities in 2015.

The seizure of the $700,000 worth of bitcoin from Grant West last year is one of the first such seizures of cryptocurrency from any cyber-criminal in Britain.

West was arrested last year on a train after a lengthy investigation by police authorities who were able to gain access to his bitcoin accounts as he was logged in at the time of his arrest.

West’s cyber-crime activities involved hacking into websites of companies such as Sainsbury’s, Uber, Ladbrokes and others. After gaining access into the companies’ websites, he would then obtain personal information of customers for companies.

Britain’s Southwark Crown Court will sentence West on May 25.

Takeaway dining company Just Eat appears to have been the most affected after private information belonging to nearly 200,000 of its clients was obtained, with West using phishing email scam to mine the details.

The personal details of these companies’ clients were then sold on various dark web market places. West would then convert the proceeds into his bitcoin account. The fraudulent activities were carried out using the username Courvoisier during the July to December 2015 period.

Mick Gallangher, one of the investigators under the police team that worked on the case for two years said British police and authorities had now debunked the anonymous nature of cyber criminals who convert their proceeds into cryptocurrencies.

“These people generally feel they can operate with impunity, that they can’t be touched. We have now debunked that,” he said.

British courts have already sentenced West’s girlfriend, Rachael Brookes, who is an accomplice in the cyber-crimes to two years. This was after West pleaded guilty to charges cyber-attack charges in December last year.

USA Today has also reported that Investigators also gleaned encrypted access codes saved on West’s computer.

The confiscation of bitcoin belonging to West under the case has raised debate and discussion over the difficulties of law enforcement, especially when tracking fraudulent money stored in cryptocurrencies.

However, as a fact check from a Quebec government agency found last month, bitcoin’s perceived associations with criminal activity are largely overblown.

https://www.ccn.com/busted-britain-confiscates-700000-in-bitcoin-from-hacker/

[avikz]

It's a good news that the hacker got busted and sent to jail for his crimes. But now the question is what will happen to that $700,000 worth of bitcoins? Are these going to be distributed to the rightful owners? I guess no! It will be an addition to the British Treasury. So the fund is just transferred from one hacker to another while the rightful owners will cry foul.

[Lakai01]

It's a good news that the hacker got busted and sent to jail for his crimes. But now the question is what will happen to that $700,000 worth of bitcoins? Are these going to be distributed to the rightful owners? I guess no! It will be an addition to the British Treasury. So the fund is just transferred from one hacker to another while the rightful owners will cry foul.

Its possible that they hold an auction to sell those coins to the highest bidder, didnt get the Mt. Gox coins distributed that way?

[palle11]

The court should not temper justice with mercy. The full penalty should be melted on the culprit because this will scare other crypto fraudsters from hacking account. And to say the least, it is a good thing that the government apparatus is beginning to play a role in digital currency punishment.

[HeRetiK]

It's a good news that the hacker got busted and sent to jail for his crimes. But now the question is what will happen to that $700,000 worth of bitcoins? Are these going to be distributed to the rightful owners? I guess no! It will be an addition to the British Treasury. So the fund is just transferred from one hacker to another while the rightful owners will cry foul.

Rightful owners? The guy earned his coins by selling private information on the black market. If you would want to return the coins to their "rightful owners" you'd have to refund the data peddlers. If anything they would have to compensate the victims of this guy's crimes, the ones that had their personal data compromised. Not sure if a couple of bucks per person would really make up for it though.

Its possible that they hold an auction to sell those coins to the highest bidder, didnt get the Mt. Gox coins distributed that way?

I think your mixing this up with the Silk Road coins that got auctioned by the Feds in 2014 - 2015. The MtGox coins supposedly got sold on various crypto exchanges by their bankruptcy trustee.

[dunfida]

It's a good news that the hacker got busted and sent to jail for his crimes. But now the question is what will happen to that $700,000 worth of bitcoins? Are these going to be distributed to the rightful owners? I guess no! It will be an addition to the British Treasury. So the fund is just transferred from one hacker to another while the rightful owners will cry foul.

Rightful owners? The guy earned his coins by selling private information on the black market. If you would want to return the coins to their "rightful owners" you'd have to refund the data peddlers. If anything they would have to compensate the victims of this guy's crimes, the ones that had their personal data compromised. Not sure if a couple of bucks per person would really make up for it though.

Compensating  data victims would really takes time which this would end up those bitcoins recovered will be put up on treasury of Britain itself. Good to hear out that these kind of hacking incidents can really be possibly traced out and theres still chance but when you do look up on the time frame it do takes years. Ive been expecting for more hackers or fraudsters to be get caught.

[olubams]

This is nothing shorter than good news here. If it were to be from some countries, I could have passed it as victimisation or wanting to send a message but this is a painstaking investigation that eventually yielded result because its being reported that he is an hacker couple with the list of heists he has been involved in. Its worthy of note that he didn't get the bitcoins from exchange hacking but he chose to keep it in bitcoin which was recovered because he was online or else the fund would still be there when he leaves prison. This also should sound a note of warning to others that you might not be caught via crypto but other means are available.

[gentlemand]

Its possible that they hold an auction to sell those coins to the highest bidder, didnt get the Mt. Gox coins distributed that way?

Gox is far from done yet. Auctions are the customary method of getting rid of the proceeds of evil.

As the article mentions it looks like the first time British authorities have wound up with some coins. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it. Hopefully they'll be so disgusted at the options in the UK for converting it they'll crack on with opening up the possibilities for a decent exchange for once.

[ovcijisir]

Similar case was in Romania when government seized 3.000.000.000$ worth of Bitcoin at the time.

Don't know if they decided what to do with it, but auction seems like good idea.

[countryfree]

West was arrested last year on a train after a lengthy investigation by police authorities who were able to gain access to his bitcoin accounts as he was logged in at the time of his arrest.

...

USA Today has also reported that Investigators also gleaned encrypted access codes saved on West’s computer.

The police forces were very, very lucky! This will make me rethink my computer's security. I'm no hacker, and I'm no criminal, but I don't want anyone to be able to gain access to my wallets by seizing my computer.

[gentlemand]

Similar case was in Romania when government seized 3.000.000.000$ worth of Bitcoin at the time.

Don't know if they decided what to do with it, but auction seems like good idea.

I'm not sure that's fully confirmed. There's been lots of conjecture but little to no hard facts about that amount or the seizure itself. If it is true let's hope they get some decent advice about handling the sale.

[darkangel11]

Similar case was in Romania when government seized 3.000.000.000$ worth of Bitcoin at the time.

Don't know if they decided what to do with it, but auction seems like good idea.

I'm not sure that's fully confirmed. There's been lots of conjecture but little to no hard facts about that amount or the seizure itself. If it is true let's hope they get some decent advice about handling the sale.

Aren't you guys talking about Bulgaria not Romania? There was a case or a large number of seized coins there and over 3 billion USD worth of cryptocurrency was confiscated.
Last time I read something about that case the authorities were saying that they have failed to access the wallets and as a result don't control the private keys. They informed everyone about their success, but at the time had no control over the money. That's why we don't hear anything about the funds being put on auction.

[jossiel]

But now the question is what will happen to that $700,000 worth of bitcoins? Are these going to be distributed to the rightful owners? I guess no!

I doubt it will happen too, these seized coins will be in the custody of the government,

Similar case was in Romania when government seized 3.000.000.000$ worth of Bitcoin at the time.

Don't know if they decided what to do with it, but auction seems like good idea.

Seems to be a good idea but we don't know on how they'll get along with the suggestions from the higher house on what they should do with the coins.

They know that they can make money, we just hope that it will be in good hands.

The bad side again about bitcoin is there. 

[richardsNY]

They informed everyone about their success, but at the time had no control over the money. That's why we don't hear anything about the funds being put on auction.

The thing is that through blockchain analysis these coins would be easy to spot, especially so if they are being batched. I didn't believe that story when it popped up, and still don't today. It might just have been an attempt to create a panic wave due to the value size of the seized coins. It wasn't all that long ago where the central bank of Poland paid social media figures to spread fud about crypto, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is similar in a way. On top of that, I actually hope that they didn't seize that many coins -- the income from these sales would probably land in the pockets of corrupted government figures, which is something that we don't want to see happen.

[milewilda]

But now the question is what will happen to that $700,000 worth of bitcoins? Are these going to be distributed to the rightful owners? I guess no!

I doubt it will happen too, these seized coins will be in the custody of the government,

Similar case was in Romania when government seized 3.000.000.000$ worth of Bitcoin at the time.

Don't know if they decided what to do with it, but auction seems like good idea.

Seems to be a good idea but we don't know on how they'll get along with the suggestions from the higher house on what they should do with the coins.

They know that they can make money, we just hope that it will be in good hands.

The bad side again about bitcoin is there. 

What we gonna do expect for those coins? If werent aware on the possibilities on making money then they will just simply store it up but if they are wise and taking advantage with those coins they can really able to make profits and benefit on their own. Good hands or bad hands bitcoin would be used neither way depending on its holder.I do saw already some situations like this confiscation and its much better for those coins to be auctioned.

[jseverson]

West was arrested last year on a train after a lengthy investigation by police authorities who were able to gain access to his bitcoin accounts as he was logged in at the time of his arrest.

...

USA Today has also reported that Investigators also gleaned encrypted access codes saved on West’s computer.

The police forces were very, very lucky! This will make me rethink my computer's security. I'm no hacker, and I'm no criminal, but I don't want anyone to be able to gain access to my wallets by seizing my computer.

I'm quite confused as to what access codes they gleaned over when it was already stated that they were able to get access of his coins because he was logged in when he was arrested. As far as desktop wallets go, they shouldn't be able to get access to your coins just by seizing your computer unless you actually keep copies of your seeds or passwords on there, or if your wallet isn't protected by a strong password in the first place. Maybe he had a password manager or something?

[Kemarit]

Similar case was in Romania when government seized 3.000.000.000$ worth of Bitcoin at the time.

Don't know if they decided what to do with it, but auction seems like good idea.

Probably you are talking about Bulgaria here. But up to this day, the mystery remains if they do really have in the possession those bitcoins seized from criminals.

Its possible that they hold an auction to sell those coins to the highest bidder, didnt get the Mt. Gox coins distributed that way?

Gox is far from done yet. Auctions are the customary method of getting rid of the proceeds of evil.

As the article mentions it looks like the first time British authorities have wound up with some coins. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it. Hopefully they'll be so disgusted at the options in the UK for converting it they'll crack on with opening up the possibilities for a decent exchange for once.

Japan and the US usually auctions tainted bitcoin. I wouldn't be surprise if the British authorities will do the same.


Obviously, the British authorities has nothing to debunked regarding Bitcoin's anonymity, according the article. Because we all know that bitcoin is pseudo-anonymous and everything can be traced in Blockchain. However, this is really  a good news for the cryptoworld and I hope that this will send a message to those who are thinking of getting their hands on hacking activity. Sooner or later authorities will get their hands on you and your face plastered all over the Internet.

[jossiel]

~snip~

What we gonna do expect for those coins? If werent aware on the possibilities on making money then they will just simply store it up but if they are wise and taking advantage with those coins they can really able to make profits and benefit on their own. Good hands or bad hands bitcoin would be used neither way depending on its holder.I do saw already some situations like this confiscation and its much better for those coins to be auctioned.

It would be the best to hope for the best hand to hold it.

And if they will auction it, they have the authority of doing it since they confiscated it and just like what others are saying it would be the best thing to do.

Japan and the US usually auctions tainted bitcoin. I wouldn't be surprise if the British authorities will do the same.

Yeah right.

[marielbeckham]

Does this case prevail or the majority of cyber-crimes are still unpunished?

[boblets243]

This is a great news for everyone. At least we already know that cyber criminals can be caught. I think our local police should have to work on this because criminals nowadays are having a different strategy which is they are shifting internet as a medium for their crimes. So let us put all our hopes that our government would invest in this kind of investigation group.