Delhi: Probe Indicates Hamas Link To Crypto Hack | Delhi News

[ad_1]

NEW DELHI: A five-month investigation by the Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Ops (IFSO) unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell into a cryptocurrency wallet hack has revealed that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was behind the crime, sources say. Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana is likely to communicate the developments to relevant authorities at home and abroad through appropriate channels. According to a confidential investigative report prepared by DCP (IFSO) KPS Malhotra, the cryptocurrencies, which are worth Rs 4 crore so far, were stolen from the wallet of a businessman from the west of Delhi. They were routed to various private wallets before finally landing with those used and operated in Gaza by the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas that is world famous for using stolen and donated cryptocurrency to finance terrorism. The incident was reported in 2019 after a Paschim Vihar-based businessman filed a complaint with local police after losing access to his wallet. According to the complaint, the victim had 6.2 Bitcoin, 9.79 Etherum, 2.44 Bitcoin cash from blockchain mobile wallet on his Oppo F17 mobile device. The approximate value of its currency at that time was around Rs 30.6 lakh, sources said. The case was transferred to the special cell for technical investigation. Malhotra then formed a special team including ACP Raman Lamba, SI Neeraj and others to track the recipients of the embezzled money. Details of his crypto wallet, along with other accounts, have been uploaded to the Darknet. An initial investigation using a series of tracing tools revealed that the victim’s device had been hacked and currency had been transferred to three different accounts without his knowledge and consent. During the investigation, the cryptocurrency trail led police to identify accounts operated by the al-Qassam Brigades, except for wallets seized by the Israeli Ministry’s National Counterterrorism Financing Office of the defense. The seizure of Hamas-linked digital wallets was called by Israel the first and most aggressive action against the terror group’s cryptocurrency efforts. “The seized wallet belonged to Mohammad Naseer Ibrahim Abdulla. The other wallets into which a significant portion of the cryptocurrencies were transferred were operated from Giza in Egypt. One of these wallets belonged to Ahmed Marzooq. Another wallet, in which cryptocurrencies had been transferred, belonged to Ahmed QH Safi from Ramallah in Palestine,” the report filed by IFSO states. Some of the stolen currency was also found transferred to a UK-based gambling site and a child pornography site, sources said. The development comes amid calls for the regulation and crackdown on digital wallets, long favored by cybercriminals for laundering funds raised through digital crimes. As of now, there is currently no law in India that regulates cryptocurrency trading. However, trading and setting up a cryptocurrency exchange is legal in India. Cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency that can be termed as a collection of data designed to be anonymous and secure. Virtual currency is designed to function as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure transactions and control the creation of additional monetary units. No entity owns or controls them and it works on a peer-to-peer system. They are relatively difficult to trace and offer a certain anonymity online.

[ad_2]