The Federal Police launched the Criptocard police operation this Tuesday morning (6/6) with the aim of combating fraud that consisted of buying cryptocurrencies with card payments on the world’s largest trading platform, using credit card details. as a “enumeration attack”.
The investigated used mechanisms that massively generated card numbers for making purchases over the internet.
The origin of the investigation was due to preliminary information shared by the US Secret Service of the US Embassy, as part of the police cooperation between the Brazilian and US authorities, resulting in a formal investigation by the Federal Police, in an action led by the newly established Directorate for Combating Cybercrimes (DCIBER) of the Federal Police.
PF targets group that bought cryptocurrencies with credit card in Operation Criptocard. 100 officers served arrest warrants in several states
About 100 federal police officers served 26 search and seizure warrants issued by the 32nd Federal Court in five states (CE, BA, MA, SC, and SP).
The PF investigation has identified a money laundering practice in which assets were sequentially transferred to other users to make tracing more difficult, concealing the provenance and ultimately giving the appearance of legality to the funds. The total value of the scam applied is close to R$19 million.
The conducts could, in theory, constitute the commission of the offense of aggravated theft by fraud and money laundering by a criminal organization, with maximum penalties of up to 26 years in prison, without prejudice to the discovery of other crimes committed from the analysis of the seized material taken.
The PF has not reported the name of the platform on which the purchase of cryptocurrencies is directed. Wanted, Binance denied that it is the target platform for the Brazil operation and that it is not aware of any information regarding the matter.
The names of the suspects involved were not released by the PF, which did not return a request for comment on the number of arrests on Tuesday (6).
PF continues to hunt for crimes involving cryptocurrencies
With Operation Criptocard, the PF makes it clear that it fights crimes involving the cryptocurrency market as well as cybercrime. The new operation even included extensive coordination with the US Embassy, which promotes courses in Brazil and countries in the region for training on cryptocurrencies.
For example, in November 2021, the US Embassy in Brazil offered a course on Dark Web and Cryptocurrencies, making it clear that it has approached the country’s authorities to provide relevant information about fraud involving new technologies.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
