Australian police seize $6.4 million in cryptocurrency linked to criminal group
Date: 2024-10-02 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have seized A$9.3 million (US$6.4 million) in cryptocurrency during an investigation into the head of encrypted communications platform Ghost. On October 2, the AFP reported that the suspect, 32-year-old Jay Ji Yong Zhong, had been arrested as part of Operation Kraken. The arrest was made on September 17 and Zhong has been charged with five counts, including supporting a criminal group.
The assets were seized after an analyst working for the AFP team decrypted the suspects’ accounts’ “sit phrase.” The AFP’s Criminal Asset Confiscation Team (CACT) then transferred the cryptocurrency to secure storage. Acting Commander Raven said police are focusing on tracking and seizing illegally acquired assets such as cryptocurrency.
Cryptocurrency scams: AFP global campaign against ‘phishing’ schemes
The AFP report said the assets were seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and CACT plans to seek final confiscation of them to the state in the near future. This is the second seizure made under Operation Kraken. Last month, a man was arrested in Perth in possession of A$2 million (US$1.3 million) in cryptocurrency and property.
Police are also actively combating cryptocurrency scams. In August, the AFP, working with Chainalysis, found that more than 2,000 Australian cryptocurrency wallets had been compromised in phishing attacks. Operation Spincaster aims to combat these types of scams through education, tools and training.
