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By SecureWorld News Team
November 15, 2016 • 11:43 AM

Criminals use a variety of technologies to transform stolen plunder into what appears to be legal money. Various cryptocurrencies and even online games are used. Bitcoin is a favorite by ransomware hackers because of the anonymity of account holders. While at the SecureWorld Bay Area conference, I listened to Kathryn Haun, of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), discuss how criminals have used Bitcoin to hide assets and how her department has out maneuvered them in order to catch and prosecute them. She has a great story to tell. Some of the worst offenders were actual federal agents attempting to steal and commit fraud.

In January, Dutch police arrested 10 men for laundering $22 million by using Bitcoin. Darkmarkets use cryptocurrencies as part of their transactions and the process can clean stolen money into other assets. There are also services offered in the underbelly of the Internet to which are specifically designed to ‘clean’ coins by mixing them together. The operator takes a commission or fee of course. Digital casinos which accept bitcoin are also popular, where money changes hands in the same manner as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.

Click here to read the rest of Matthew Rosenquist's post on LinkedIn.

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