Sextortion - more than 4000 BTC cashed

[Sithara007]

I think the Police worldwide are not really super advance to track the slander. Wallet address can simply be track once the owner is just like us a simple person. But it the owner is knowledgeable in crypto and know deeper than the Police. They cannot track and couldn't give justice to the victim. I hope one day there will have full protection not just for them but also for us who experienced hundreds of scams.

Not here in India. May be in some of the developed nations the police department has the resources to track down the blackmailers and recover the amount. But here, there are too many similar cases and the cops are either not interested in resolving them, or they don't have the manpower and equipment to do that. Also, in many cases the calls are being made from another country and that complicates everything. Unless some powerful individual is involved, the law enforcement authorities don't bother to link up with the officials in other country to gather the information.

[peter0425]

A sextortion victim received a mail to pay $1000 in bitcoin within 48h to address 1GYNGZLEUGkkQjHo19dHDnGE87WsAiGLLB otherwise, a captured intimate video of the victim is sent to all his email contacts. Can the extortionist be tracked down with only knowledge of the Bitcoin address? In this case the wanted person doesn't seem to be the brightest candle on the cake.

can be recover by Bitcoin address? no there is no chance mate.

A free short analysis with our "Bitcoin privacy check" tool already shows the connection to a Binance client:. For less than $100 a report is available from forensicsone showing that the address sent funds to a binance deposit address.

But the amazing thing is that despite the naive approach, the extortionist was able to collect many millions of $ (more than 4,000 BTC) from thousands of people, even though Binance already demands KYC at 2 BTC and there were hundreds of criminal complaints at the police.

I conclude that our police simply do not have enough experts to follow up on something like this.

or maybe there is also Inside job? who knows right?

[pawanjain]

I conclude that our police simply do not have enough experts to follow up on something like this.

Or may be the police doesn't bother about the money lost. In most scenarios, such cases are handled by the cyber crime department.
The cyber crime department are often too busy handling cases which include thousands of dollars and are less bothered about cases where low amount of money is lost.

Another reason is that sometimes the police are not able to do much in cases where cryptocurrencies are involved.

Due to these reasons the scammers get away with such scams easily and end up collecting huge sums of money.

[BTCtester.com]

I think the Police worldwide are not really super advance to track the slander. Wallet address can simply be track once the owner is just like us a simple person. But it the owner is knowledgeable in crypto and know deeper than the Police. They cannot track and couldn't give justice to the victim. I hope one day there will have full protection not just for them but also for us who experienced hundreds of scams.

This is the good part for the victims. There is no hurry to catch the scammer immediately when cashing out. The blockchain data are written in stome and the analysis can even be done in years from now. A little mistake in one of 1000 transactions and the house of cards collapse for the scammer.

[Sithara007]

I think the Police worldwide are not really super advance to track the slander. Wallet address can simply be track once the owner is just like us a simple person. But it the owner is knowledgeable in crypto and know deeper than the Police. They cannot track and couldn't give justice to the victim. I hope one day there will have full protection not just for them but also for us who experienced hundreds of scams.

This is the good part for the victims. There is no hurry to catch the scammer immediately when cashing out. The blockchain data are written in stome and the analysis can even be done in years from now. A little mistake in one of 1000 transactions and the house of cards collapse for the scammer.

If someone pulls out a scam such as this one, then we can assume that he won't be stupid enough to leave some link to his identity that can be traced. The Bitcoin wallets that are used for this extortion purpose will remain inactive for many years. And even after that, the coins will be moved using a Bitcoin mixer or will be converted to altcoins or fiat using P2P platforms which doesn't require KYC information. It is still possible to trace the perpetrators, but that is going to take a lot of effort and the law enforcement authorities won't be interested unless some high profile narcotic or terrorist linkage is there.

[temple]

I think the Police worldwide are not really super advance to track the slander. Wallet address can simply be track once the owner is just like us a simple person. But it the owner is knowledgeable in crypto and know deeper than the Police. They cannot track and couldn't give justice to the victim. I hope one day there will have full protection not just for them but also for us who experienced hundreds of scams.

This is the good part for the victims. There is no hurry to catch the scammer immediately when cashing out. The blockchain data are written in stome and the analysis can even be done in years from now. A little mistake in one of 1000 transactions and the house of cards collapse for the scammer.

If someone pulls out a scam such as this one, then we can assume that he won't be stupid enough to leave some link to his identity that can be traced. The Bitcoin wallets that are used for this extortion purpose will remain inactive for many years. And even after that, the coins will be moved using a Bitcoin mixer or will be converted to altcoins or fiat using P2P platforms which doesn't require KYC information. It is still possible to trace the perpetrators, but that is going to take a lot of effort and the law enforcement authorities won't be interested unless some high profile narcotic or terrorist linkage is there.

We have to admit that someone could pull off a scam on the back of crypto, say Monero, but at the same time we should talk about the good things that crypto enables us to have and to do.

[Botnake]

How can this actually affect the crypto market?

There's none, we have some bad and good news, it's normal.
It's the lack of regulation that makes people suffer but bitcoin will stay and will remain a potential coin good for investment.

If one is careful with browsing online and protects his/her computer or any private data, this kind of "Sextortion" will never happen.

it could happen using fiat too, so there's no big difference.

[dezoel]

Sometimes these sexual extortionists don’t have anything about you, it’s just threats. That’s why you shouldn’t be replying any email that you know nothing about. If an email is coming an unknown sender it’s very best that you don’t reply such mails. And this is another reason why we should mind the kind life we live and avoid sending out images that we shouldn’t.

But like I said, when you get such mails from these sexual extortionists, it’s best not to reply , you can report to the police station and a lawyer. Like I said, most of these extortionists don’t have anything on you, they are just threatening you, and if you engage them, it gets worse.

[Vishnu.Reang]

Sometimes these sexual extortionists don’t have anything about you, it’s just threats. That’s why you shouldn’t be replying any email that you know nothing about. If an email is coming an unknown sender it’s very best that you don’t reply such mails. And this is another reason why we should mind the kind life we live and avoid sending out images that we shouldn’t.

But like I said, when you get such mails from these sexual extortionists, it’s best not to reply , you can report to the police station and a lawyer. Like I said, most of these extortionists don’t have anything on you, they are just threatening you, and if you engage them, it gets worse.

The problem is that in most cases these people have access to your intimate pictures or videos. If you ignore their emails and calls, then in all probability they will upload these videos to porn sites or social media and in turn this can cause great harm to yourself and those who are close to you. In such instances, it should be dealt intelligently. Contacting the cops is definitely the best option, but this can create issues for certain people (for example those who are involved in extra-marital affairs). 

[temple]

I conclude that our police simply do not have enough experts to follow up on something like this.

And that's why Chainalysis is trying to take over the space of forensic blockchain analysis. I have nothing against using their methods to catch criminals and whatnot, but it appears that some of their 'investigations' aren't really connected into some criminal activities. They literally peer into any transaction that they find interesting and connect all the dots, somehow lessening the anonymity of those people involved in the said transaction. Police intelligence divisions aren't really well versed in the said area just yet, but contracting Chainalysis and other blockchain analysis companies for forensic analyses of crimes involving cryptocurrencies isn't really good either.

But if you use a coin switching service that doesn't require KYC and you switch into Monero and from the provided address send it to another Monero address, it's over. There is no single way in the world to trace down transactions on the Monero blockchain, at least not from what we know to date.

If the criminal goes through Binance it might be easier, but still there will TOR and / or VPN involved. You just can't stop these coin switching services because they can be founded anywhere in the world. If you can't shut the website down, how are you going to stop it? Surely the risk is with the attacker that the person running the switching service steals the funds, but the attacker just goes step by step, doesn't send 4000 BTC. If they do it right, no way you catch them. That's why it's more effective to force people to prove where the money comes from if they ever cash out. I am not saying that is the solution to the problem, I am just saying that KYC won't stop (s)extortion at all.

[slaman29]

Can we also make the difference between Bitcoin actually being the bad guy here?

Sextortion cases themselves I bet if you did a study, Bitcoin (and the same with ransoms) only account for less than 1% of the funds being used. But does it make it better than fiat? Also not. Does it make gold better because maybe no one uses it in sextortion? No:)

[soy1003]

A couple of things regarding dothebeats post.

In this age when every customer is video'd at every Walmart checkout and police simply park a car with license plate reader and video at an exit to film drivers after they've removed their facemasks, anonymity today isn't expected.  It's the world we live in today.

And with bitcoin thieves having stolen over 11.8 btc from me, I don't want crypto currency anonymity.

Sextortion: I had a compromised password.  No cellphone nor camera have been in my bedroom.  I got a one of those sextortion demands.  I ignored it.  They target those with a compromised password not those they've hacked.

soy1003

[Kez1817]

A sextortion victim received a mail to pay $1000 in bitcoin within 48h to address 1GYNGZLEUGkkQjHo19dHDnGE87WsAiGLLB otherwise, a captured intimate video of the victim is sent to all his email contacts. Can the extortionist be tracked down with only knowledge of the Bitcoin address? In this case the wanted person doesn't seem to be the brightest candle on the cake.

A free short analysis with our "Bitcoin privacy check" tool already shows the connection to a Binance client:. For less than $100 a report is available from forensicsone showing that the address sent funds to a binance deposit address.

But the amazing thing is that despite the naive approach, the extortionist was able to collect many millions of $ (more than 4,000 BTC) from thousands of people, even though Binance already demands KYC at 2 BTC and there were hundreds of criminal complaints at the police.

I conclude that our police simply do not have enough experts to follow up on something like this.

It is possible if he has a back up, I mean, he has a friend or partner that can make a transactions with kyc. Maybe he just use that wallet to claim millions of $ from his victims but he also transfer it to different wallet exchange address and also to his friends.

[soy1003]

The US shutdown BTC-e in Bulgaria because they refused to comply with proof of identity FINCEN requirements and bitcoin laundering.  Vinnik was arrested in Greece by the Greeks with US authorities but held that his Russian Orthodox faith was essentially the same as Greek Orthodox and so shouldn't be held in US jails.  Don't know why, the Russian Orthodox church has a huge estate on Long Island Sound near where I lived and a church in a town a little ways away.  So, the Greeks sent him to France where he is awaiting trial.  

I went off the subject a bit but what I started to ask is why doesn't FINCEN play wack-a-mole with every exchange accepting bitcoin ransoms or extortions if they can't provide individual identification of the perps.  Or is it a case that Russia won't comply with FINCEN requirements?  What's the answer?  Maybe break up the internet the way the EU is banning flights to Russia and Belarus while they support Alexander Lukashenko?  Heck many of my missing ~11.8 btc might be in Russia if reports Vinnik had a boss there who may now have much of the MtGox stolen btc as well as btc stolen from other exchanges over the years are true.

soy1003

[7788bitcoin]

I went off the subject a bit but what I started to ask is why doesn't FINCEN play wack-a-mole with every exchange accepting bitcoin ransoms or extortions if they can't provide individual identification of the perps.  Or is it a case that Russia won't comply with FINCEN requirements?  

The reason majority of the exchanges are complying with mandatory KYC is simply because they do not want to get into trouble as the authorities will mark them as aiding money laundering if they are not able to provide the necessary documents of individual wallet holders.

What's the answer?  Maybe break up the internet the way the EU is banning flights to Russia and Belarus while they support Alexander Lukashenko?  Heck many of my missing ~11.8 btc might be in Russia if reports Vinnik had a boss there who may now have much of the MtGox stolen btc as well as btc stolen from other exchanges over the years.

So you did loose your coins during the MtGox hack and it was a disaster for everyone involved in Bitcoin during that time period and hopefully we will be able to track them down even if it takes another decade  .

[BTCtester.com]

But if you use a coin switching service that doesn't require KYC and you switch into Monero and from the provided address send it to another Monero address, it's over. There is no single way in the world to trace down transactions on the Monero blockchain, at least not from what we know to date.

No. While you're right that highly sophisticated transaction and mixing protocols like Monero or (Coinjoin..)mixers cannot be traced directly it can be done in the most cases indirectly. Successful scammers have to manage earlier or later a high number of addresses. E.g. if someone is doing 500 transactions and is only once or twice co-spending the wrong coins (e.g. unmixed with mixed or monero-forth-back-exchanged coins) then the house of cards collapses often.

I was able to link for this reason more than 20% of a Wasabi mixing transaction outputs to their inputs. If you think 20% is not so much then this was the success rate per single transaction. If people are doing hundreds of transactions then only a low % of scammers are able to stay untraceable over time. The scammer ripping off 307 BTC from Exmo exchange in December moved the coins for obfuscation reasons more than 300 times before he did a mistake by co-spending it with other coins. All the 300 transactions were finally a waste of time and fees.

The scammers human brain thinks two or three steps deep but the analytics software goes much deeper. E.g. scammers which move the coins in long transaction chains use manually chosen transaction amounts. They have other patterns then natural transaction chains where A is trading with B and B is buying something for crypto from C.

[Cryptoking1205]

How can this actually affect the crypto market?

It won't lol

[Chato1977]

I think the Police worldwide are not really super advance to track the slander. Wallet address can simply be track once the owner is just like us a simple person. But it the owner is knowledgeable in crypto and know deeper than the Police. They cannot track and couldn't give justice to the victim. I hope one day there will have full protection not just for them but also for us who experienced hundreds of scams.

Remember that Most of the chance wallet owner are anonymous until time comes of they need to withdraw .  meaning the funds may sit on the wallets for those long time and just wait for a chance to segregate the funds little by little.

[soy1003]

[quote author=BTCtester.com link=topic=5339093.msg57060985#msg57060985 date=162161978

I conclude that our police simply do not have enough experts to follow up on something like this.
[/quote]

And where an exchange touted that the bitcoins deposited in their exchange couldn't be traced, that created a disincentive for authorities to effectively recover stolen bitcoins.  Like the move to defund the police over perceived racial bias.

soy1003

[temple]

But if you use a coin switching service that doesn't require KYC and you switch into Monero and from the provided address send it to another Monero address, it's over. There is no single way in the world to trace down transactions on the Monero blockchain, at least not from what we know to date.

No. While you're right that highly sophisticated transaction and mixing protocols like Monero or (Coinjoin..)mixers cannot be traced directly it can be done in the most cases indirectly. Successful scammers have to manage earlier or later a high number of addresses. E.g. if someone is doing 500 transactions and is only once or twice co-spending the wrong coins (e.g. unmixed with mixed or monero-forth-back-exchanged coins) then the house of cards collapses often.

I was able to link for this reason more than 20% of a Wasabi mixing transaction outputs to their inputs. If you think 20% is not so much then this was the success rate per single transaction. If people are doing hundreds of transactions then only a low % of scammers are able to stay untraceable over time. The scammer ripping off 307 BTC from Exmo exchange in December moved the coins for obfuscation reasons more than 300 times before he did a mistake by co-spending it with other coins. All the 300 transactions were finally a waste of time and fees.

The scammers human brain thinks two or three steps deep but the analytics software goes much deeper. E.g. scammers which move the coins in long transaction chains use manually chosen transaction amounts. They have other patterns then natural transaction chains where A is trading with B and B is buying something for crypto from C.

I see what you are saying and I know that companies like Chainalysis can go far beyond what many people think. But if you get your money into Monero and you send it a few steps ahead, maybe just divide it into a couple smaller transactions onto various Monero addresses, how are you going to identify the scammer? Isn't then the only way to crack Monero itself? I see why Bitcoin is relatively easy to trace even when mixers are used, but for as long as you are careful with hiding your IP and you are not unlucky using an infected TOR node, there is no way to really find you before any exit. Am I wrong?