Russian Darknet Criminals Sell Fake Cash for Crypto
The entire group has been detained in Russia and is suspected of illegally profiting from the sale of fake banknotes for bitcoins/cryptocurrency. The seized group is made up of four men, three of whom are Russian citizens, who allegedly traded the digital money for Russian currency. The group targeted sites on the dark web where they sold fake currency and provided the buyer with digital packages that purportedly contained the true value of the notes. The names of the suspects have been withheld, as well as the actual value of the digital currency that the suspects allegedly sold.
According to an April 7 report from Russian news agency Kommersant, the criminal group has managed to sell more than 1 billion counterfeit Russian rubles, worth around $13 million as of press time.
Russia's Interior Ministry is warning that large sums of monies are being made through the use of fake U.S. and Russian banknotes, according to Russia's News.ru. The crackdown, which reportedly includes the seizure of banks in St. Petersburg, is the latest in a string of concerted efforts by Russia's law enforcement to clamp down on the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
The comments were reported by the Kommersant newspaper, which added that the operation targeted monies from approximately 10 federal agencies and the justice ministry. It's believed that fraudsters have been producing and reselling millions of fake US dollars.
Russia’s internal affairs ministry reportedly said that this is the first case of its kind in the country. However, Russia is not the first country to face money counterfeit operations involving cryptocurrency. In September 2019, Portuguese police and Europol seized funds worth nearly $80,000 from counterfeit operators that were selling fake money for Bitcoin (BTC).
The money is being bought using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, litecoin, Dogecoin and Dash, making it possible to circumvent banking sanctions against the country..A number of suspects were arrested, including Tikhon Shevchuk, a Russian national and the leader of the group, which used to distribute counterfeit currency online. According to the press service, there are now investigations ongoing into the group's previous operations.