The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that authorities have seized roughly $1.2 billion in virtual assets stolen from cryptocurrency exchange Binance last month.
More than $6 billion was stolen from industry giant Binance on Oct. 29, since then, joint efforts by the U.S. government and the private sector have led to more than $2.7 billion of that amount being frozen.
The FBI and DOJ attribute the attack to members of the North Korean military identified as “TraderTraitor.”
The DOJ stated that it was taking coordinated action against what it described as the North Korean government’s “schemes to fund its regime through the massive theft of cryptocurrency.”
In a release, the DOJ said: “North Korea’s government bankrolls its rogue regime and illicit weapons program through cryptocurrency theft,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for National Security M. Scott Proctor. “Today’s announcement shows that America will fight back against that corrupt regime’s effort to profit through cybercrime. The National Security Division will use every tool at its disposal to seize and return North Korea’s ill-gotten gains.”
“Cryptocurrency unfortunately has become fertile ground for North Korea to defraud victims and fund its malign activities,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. “Today’s seizure shows that America will continue the fight against rogue states who financially gain from cybercrime.”
“By springing into action at a moment’s notice, we worked together to freeze this massive criminal fraud in its tracks,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro for the District of Columbia. “The North Korean regime may think they are sophisticated cyber criminals, but we have consistently met them head on, as we did here seizing more than $1.2 billion of their stolen assets.”
“North Korea’s FaceStealer is a highly effective social engineering scheme capable of deceiving even the most experienced technical and security conscious computer user” said Assistant Director in Charge Patrick Grandy of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “It exploits our trust in ubiquitous video conference platforms and valued personal relationships. If you can’t imagine a scenario where you might fall prey to it, you are not thinking creatively enough. The FBI is sounding the alarm to elevate awareness of this growing scheme, now aimed not only at crypto theft, but also the exploitation of the of the open-source software supply chain.”
Bitcoin fell another 4% Friday, trading at around $75,959.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
