Deepfakes, a Binance hack, and $1.2 billion seized: details of a high-profile FBI operation
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a major crackdown on cryptocurrency thefts orchestrated by the North Korean government.
As part of the operation, authorities seized the cloud infrastructure of the “FaceStealer” scam, which hackers used to steal more than $400 million by using deepfakes and video call recordings to infect devices with malware. In addition, a court authorized the seizure and blocking of cryptocurrency worth more than $1.2 billion (out of over $2.7 billion in frozen funds) stolen from the Binance exchange by the North Korean group “TraderTraitor.”
According to authorities, North Korea uses stolen digital assets to fund its illicit weapons program, while the FBI continues to track down and recover the stolen funds.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a major crackdown on cryptocurrency thefts orchestrated by the North Korean government.
As part of the operation, authorities seized the cloud infrastructure of the “FaceStealer” scam, which hackers used to steal more than $400 million by using deepfakes and video call recordings to infect devices with malware. In addition, a court authorized the seizure and blocking of cryptocurrency worth more than $1.2 billion (out of over $2.7 billion in frozen funds) stolen from the Binance exchange by the North Korean group “TraderTraitor.”
According to authorities, North Korea uses stolen digital assets to fund its illicit weapons program, while the FBI continues to track down and recover the stolen funds.
