US Justice Department Seizes Domain Used by Burmese Crypto Scam Syndicate

Source: CoinEdition Original Title: US Justice Department Seizes Domain Linked to Burmese ‘Pig Butchering’ Ring Original Link: https://coinedition.com/us-justice-department-seizes-domain-linked-to-burmese-pig-butchering-ring/

Key Highlights

• The Justice Department announced the seizure of a web domain used by Burmese scammers.
• The DoJ created the Scam Center Strike Force to deal with organized crime that targets Americans.
• Any victim of an organized crypto investment fraud scam has been requested to file a complaint with the FBI.

U.S. Agencies Bring Down a Crypto Crime Syndicate

The Justice Department has taken down a web domain used to defraud crypto investors. On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the takeover of tickmilleas, and has obtained its control together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The FBI together with the DoJ has requested any victim of the scam to file an official complaint.

The Justice Department noted that the tickmilleas web domain was used by a highly organized Southeast Asia criminal group located at the Tai Chang scam compound, dubbed Casino Kosai, in Kyuakhat village in Burma.

The U.S. law enforcement agencies noted that the Tai Chang scam is affiliated with the Burmese Group dubbed the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA). Additionally, the operators of the tickmilleas website were associated with the Trans Asia International Holding Group Thailand Company Limited.

On November 12, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the DKBA alongside its top leaders for defrauding billions of dollars from American investors. The take down of the tickmilleas website was a major success for the recently created District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Scam Center Strike Force.

The Scam Center Strike Force also took down two additional web domains used by the Tai Chang scam compound in regards to the crypto scams. Furthermore, the FBI involved tech giants Google and Apple to remove the affiliated mobile applications from Google Play and the App Store respectively.

Meta also acted on the information by removing more than 2k associated social media accounts from its family of applications.

Crypto and Organized Crime in Southeast Asia

According to the Department of the Treasury, organized crime in Southeast Asia has heavily relied on crypto assets to facilitate criminal activity. The DoJ noted that the criminals lured investors to make crypto deposits in the platforms with the promise of higher returns.

The proceeds were used to fuel Burma’s civil war, which worsened after 2021. The lack of a strong central government in the country has played a crucial role in the rise of a fragmented constellation of armed actors using crypto assets to fund the civil war.

However, the changing crypto regulatory landscape in major jurisdictions has pushed web3 developers to build highly compliant products. Even though privacy has been advocated through Zero-Knowledge (ZK) proofs, it is prudent to remember that complex onchain analysis, such as by certain blockchain analytics firms, can doxx most crypto users.