Experts say scammers were dirty and exposed themselves – NRK Nordland

NRK spoke of a man from Northern Norway who was scammed by scammers.

Slowly and over time, criminals built trust.

In the end, they made him invest 200,000 kroner in the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

Since then, NRK has determined how the money went to criminals who apparently cheated out of at least 15 million kroner.

With victims around the world.

The man has little faith that he will get the money back, after the local police have dropped the case.

– I hope the money is used for parties and fun. Because the alternative is that they are used in criminal activities, says the man, whose identity will be concealed for his own security.

Today NRK can say that it shouldn’t be too difficult to find out who is behind the fraud scheme.

It’s not as complicated as people think, says Nicholas Smart, Head of Intelligence at CrystalBlockchain.

Surprised

The company he works for Offices in Dubai, Amsterdam, London and (until recently) – Ukraine.

They are developing tools that are used by both the police and the authorities. This makes it easy to track bitcoin transactions among other things.

Smart studied where the man’s money went.

He says he is surprised.

You usually see fraudsters trying to better hide their tracks.

What he sees is that great values ​​have accumulated in one big “portfolio”.

This is on the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, says Smart.

– it’s not difficult

In this case, it looks like the scammers were sloppy.

before He is It is possible to find out who is behind it, Smart thinks.

The reason for this is that FTX is not just a crypto exchange.

This is a recognized and legitimate crypto exchange.

Smart says they have an interest in preserving their good name and reputation.

This is why, among other things, they have procedures in place to get people to identify themselves.

– It is believed that FTX will definitely know who is behind the recipient’s address.

He says they are usually cooperative.

– If the police go to FTX and ask for a name, they will be able to give some details.

Is it easy for the Norwegian police to spot the fraud in this particular example?

In this particular case, it shouldn’t be that hard.

– It’s so uncomplicated that you just have to go to FTX and ask a few questions. View address and transactions.

stricter demands

To register for FTX and make withdrawals, you must provide, among other things, a residential address.

she’s telling Vettel Andreas Gusgaard Lundy.

it’s aAnalyst at Arcane Crypto.

Then you can make recordings of up to $2000 per day. To make larger withdrawals, you must register with a passport and more comprehensive personal details.

– So they have more stringent requirements than some other exchanges. They may have been recorded with information that may indicate their identity.

shocked

He says he was simply shocked that the scammers used FTX.

– Since there are many other exchanges that would have had a more relaxed approach to having to leave personal information. So this is strange.

– I think FTX would be among the most benevolent people to share information with the police.

– Perhaps they provided false documents for registration?

– Yes, it may have happened. Then it becomes more difficult to solve.

In any case, a police investigation will result in FTX blocking access to the account while the investigation continues. And they have to define themselves to get access again.

Why do scammers want to use FTX every day?

Old habit. Or you are in a little bit high so that you can make money easily and thus become neglected.

Hope for the best

For the man who lost 200,000 in fraud, this is good news.

– Fortunately, I didn’t need the money I lost now. Others may find themselves in a completely different situation, having lost large amounts of money.

– He says that finding the crooks behind them could mean a lot to the lives of many.

He hopes the police will take this new information seriously.

The local police dropped the case, but then sent it to Okocream.

Police attorney Ann Glady Alum said she could not comment on individual cases. or individual exchanges abroad.

In general it says:

– If the information is to be obtained from foreign foreign exchange exchanges, it is the legal system and legislation of the individual country that will be crucial to how easy it is to obtain the information. When it comes to Norwegian crypto exchanges registered with Finanstilsynet, the police have had a positive experience.

This short answer came from “FTX Legal”. They will not comment to the media on individual cases:

– We demand the request of a law enforcement officer or a court order, they write.