ISLAMABAD: The United States has recently seized hundreds of cryptocurrency accounts which were being used by the international terror outfits such as Daish, Al-Qaeda, Hamas and others.
The US security agencies have traced many cryptocurrency accounts which have been sent to the US Justice Department for legal action against _ seizure of accounts, Bitcoins, other cryptocurrencies. The Justice Department said that its actions have led to the dismantling of three terrorist financing cyber-enabled campaigns that used social media to obtain cryptocurrency for carrying out terrorist attacks.
Documents of the Justice Department indicate that more than 150 accounts of cryptocurrency were linked to Al-Qaeda alone.
Details show that the cyber crime wings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue System (IRS) of the United States have reported that Al-Qaeda created a channel on the messaging app Telegram that was used to solicit bitcoin donations to fund the group’s terror activities.
Meanwhile, the US authorities have sought arrest warrants for two individuals, Mehmet Akti and Hüsamettı̇n Karataş, who allegedly stored and transferred cryptocurrencies to Hamas’ military wing, the al-Qassam Brigade.
Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company that aided the investigators, wrote in a blog post that authorities have seized over $1 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the terror organizations.
The FBI and IRS are monitoring cryptocurrency accounts on regular basis to foil terror groups’ funding through cryptocurrency in America and other countries in the world.
