Binance
claims to have assisted British prosecutors in an investigation of an
online fraud that resulted in over $51 million losses by victims.
Criminal is now jailed
On Sept. 26, Binance’s chief compliance officer Samuel Lim published a blog post
saying that the exchange was working with the Cyber Crime Unit of the
United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police Service to investigate into
Bulgarian phishing expert Svetoslav Donchev.
As officially reported
by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Donchev, 37, was extradited to
the U.K. from Bulgaria to face the online scamming fraud charges and
pleaded guilty to five offences to receive a nine-year sentence on Sept.
20.
Half a million potential victims
According to the
CPS, the criminal created website scripts designed to look just like the
real websites of up to 53 U.K.-based legitimate firms to help criminals
steal 41.6 million British pounds ($51.3 million). By imitating legal
firms, other criminals were able to use his scripts to obtain personal
data about clients of those services, which was later reportedly sold on
the dark web.
According to estimations, the fraud potentially targeted 500,000 victims.
Staying informed to protect against cybercrimes
In
the post, Binance outlined its commitment to ensuring that its
community remains secure. Binance further expressed gratitude to British
authorities for cooperation in combating cybercrime:
“We
are thankful for the UK Metropolitan Police Service, as well as the
many other agencies actively working with us, and other industry
players, to continue our fight against cybercrime and sustain a healthy,
legitimate market.”
Additionally, Lim offered Binance Academy's Phishing Quiz
for Binancians to try out, noting that the best way to protect against
cyber criminals is to stay informed about potential security risks and
good practices online.
In May 2019, Binance suffered a major hack that allowed hackers to steal 7,000 Bitcoin (BTC)
worth around $40 million at the time of the hack. As reported by
Binance, hackers deployed a range of tactics including phishing and
viruses to obtain a big number of 2FA codes and API keys through the
hack.
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