Europol Ends Cryptocurrency Mixer Behind $200 Million Bitcoin Laundering Scheme
By CCN: The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) has taken down a cryptocurrency-mixing service, BestMixer.io, in a crackdown involving Europol and Luxembourg authorities.
The anti-fraud agency said Wednesday that they had begun an investigation against BestMixer last summer. It alleged that the service used to facilitate monetary transactions with unlawful intent. The investigation unearthed many cases in which people used BestMixer for concealing and laundering criminal flow money. As a part of the move, the authorities seized six servers in Luxembourg and the Netherlands. BestMixer went offline on May 22, 2019.
The mixer sourced three cryptocurrencies, specifically bitcoin, bitcoin cash and litecoin.
A press release by Europol stated:
Bestmixer.io was one of the three largest mixing services for cryptocurrencies and offered services for mixing the cryptocurrencies bitcoins, bitcoin cash and litecoins.
Dutch authorities leave a not after closing down coin-mixing service | SOURCE: FIOD, EUROPOL
BestMixer Investigation Continues
The core service offered by BestMixer involved obfuscation. It is an act of pooling cryptocurrency funds together and creating a series of new transactions in an attempt to hide the source. Criminals allegedly utilize the service in exchange for a fee, making BestMixer an equivalent of a hawala operator.
