How hope ZachXBT gets paid well for all his effort in catching scammers. Not sure how he eearns.
he has been paid pretty handsomely from various grants and individuals
Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
31–40 of 227 posts
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#32Our own banks commit 10x more fraud than that. See TD Bank money laundering case ongoing, could reach $4 billion in fines. Wells Fargo $3 billion in fines for fraudulent charges on fake accounts. JPMorgan Chase $1 bil settlement for UST and precious metal futures fraud. And those are just the ones I can remember from the last few years.
What about
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#33Serious question, if the United States decided to unilaterally cut North Korea off from the Internet, how hard would that be to do? Could we just knock out a few cables? North Korea pretty much only uses the Internet for scams Or to make money in violation of sanctions. They certainly don’t allow their citizens to use it for anything else, and they don’t allow their citizens to leave the country because they would ne…
First consider that the internet was designed to withstand and endure attacks upon it. So long as at least one connection remains, the nodes thereof remain accessible.
Next, consider that the authority of US sovereignty ends at US borders. The US legally cannot unilaterally do anything to anything outside of its own borders.
Next, consider that both North Korea and more importantly China have no damns to give about what the US wants.
Next, consider the first point again. Any actions made domestically can and likely will be circumvented by people who do not agree with them. An obvious example is people running their own DNS servers configured in defiance of US government orders.
So to answer your question:
Is it legally feasible? No.
Is it politically feasible? No.
Is it logistically feasible? No.
Is it physically feasible? No.
Is it good that this isn't feasible? Yes.
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#34many of these services do not exist anymore (chip mixer) or increased security (sanctions on Tornado cash, more KYC, better chain analysis).
KYC Know Your Customer, for anyone else unfamiliar with the acronym.
And:
ABC - Anti Bribery & Corruption
AML - Anti Money Laundering
CTF - Counter Terrorism Financing
FATF - Financial Action Task Force
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#35I'd imagine it's pretty easy, too. You've already got the assets in a poorly-accountable and liquid state - now all you need is a chump to unload the bag on. Almost makes you wonder how many cryptocurrency influencers are in the pocket of sanctioned nations...
> makes you wonder how many cryptocurrency influencers are in the pocket of sanctioned nations That's a wild thought that hadn't occurred to me. With increased KYC and tamp down, where does this money go next?
And how many VCs heavily invested in Crypto startups?
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#36US/Canada 2024, $3 billion in fines by US regulators, https://rupakghose.substack.com/p/td-banks-aml-issues-and-fi... > DoJ investigation found.. [banking] business had been used to launder more than $650m between 2016 and 2021 from US fentanyl sales for Chinese crime groups and drug traffickers. Canada 2018, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33918115 > An estimated $5.3 billion of laundered money into B.C. real e…
Is there any reason to believe the Australian investment is related to money laundering or drug sales?
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#37Serious question, if the United States decided to unilaterally cut North Korea off from the Internet, how hard would that be to do? Could we just knock out a few cables? North Korea pretty much only uses the Internet for scams Or to make money in violation of sanctions. They certainly don’t allow their citizens to use it for anything else, and they don’t allow their citizens to leave the country because they would ne…
First consider that the internet was designed to withstand and endure attacks upon it. So long as at least one connection remains, the nodes thereof remain accessible. Next, consider that the authority of US sovereignty ends at US borders. The US legally cannot unilaterally do anything to anything outside of its own borders. Next, consider that both North Korea and more importantly China have no damns to give about w…
> First consider that the internet was designed to withstand and endure attacks upon it. So long as at least one connection remains, the nodes thereof remain accessible.
Tell me you haven't worked in network infrastructure without telling me you haven't worked in network infrastructure.
> Next, consider that the authority of US sovereignty ends at US borders. The US legally cannot unilaterally do anything to anything outside of its own borders.
I mean, sure, officially, when all laws are followed and in a friction-less plane this is correct. However the United States does all kinds of shit unilaterally outside it's own borders, literally all the time, not the least of which every war we've been in post WWII, and incalculable numbers of other tom-fuckery carried out on all levels of secrecy and non-secrecy by all manner of organizations identified by three letters, most commonly the CIA.
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
You run the bitcoin through mixers/online exchanges into monero/zerocoin and then to wherever to get out with fiat.
you still have to do the actual laundering at some point. just because you have $200 million now in monero (which you also need to get to first) doesn't mean you can just transfer them to your bank account. exchanges will KYC you for that, and you will definitely get flagged for a source of wealth / source of funds check to prove where you got it from
[deleted]
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
In much the same way the internet interprets censorship as damage and routes around it, financial networks consider lost opportunity due to regulation as damage and route around it. People will assume I mean buying drugs, but actually, I mean: - when I had $10k in my US bank account but couldn’t access it while traveling because I ran afoul of whatever KYC at Western Union after losing my bank card; or, - today, when…
> when I had $10k in my US bank account but couldn’t access it while traveling because I ran afoul of whatever KYC at Western Union after losing my bank card; or, Why would you first stop be western Union if you lost your bank card? Ignoring my confusion as to why you didn’t have a credit card handy, or a phone with a banking app handy if you’re well off enough to have $10k in the bank. Why would your first thought b…
How do those things help?
I had both a credit card and a phone; you can’t get cash with NFC. I was stuck using credit card services and cut off from most of the economy of the primarily cash-based society I was visiting. To the extent merchants accepted digital payments, it was primarily in their local banking app.
> OF COURSE it set off all sorts of red flags with your bank.
Do you not understand why I regard me standing at a WU branch with my passport in hand and access to my authenticator app on my phone, but unable to actually use the service regardless, as a frustrating experience?
Roadblocks would have been fine: there was no road at all, no matter how many checkpoints I was willing to satisfy.
From the same bank who happily allows online transactions to drain my account in obvious patterns of fraud from well-known fraudsters (eg, chat.versailles) without a single roadblock — so they can harvest fees.
Re: Lazarus Group laundered $200M from 25 crypto hacks to fiat
#40Serious question, if the United States decided to unilaterally cut North Korea off from the Internet, how hard would that be to do? Could we just knock out a few cables? North Korea pretty much only uses the Internet for scams Or to make money in violation of sanctions. They certainly don’t allow their citizens to use it for anything else, and they don’t allow their citizens to leave the country because they would ne…
Only an American would ever entertain this idea without being at least a bit tongue in cheek about it. The US doesn’t own the Internet.