Crypto scams · 7 cases
Tracing, laundering and privacy
The blockchain is a public ledger: every transfer stays on record, even when someone tries to cover their tracks. Mixers, money-mule accounts, ransoms, sanctioned loot: these cases follow the methods of on-chain investigators, who trace funds from address to address until they cash out.
The rented account
- How it works
- An ad offers easy money to lend your bank or exchange account. Stolen money flows through it, in the holder's name.
- Warning sign
- Money “for doing nothing” in exchange for access to your account.
- The reflex
- Never lend or rent out your account: you answer for everything that goes through it.
The case
The Rented Account
300 euros to lend your account for a month. Then the police ring the doorbell.
The whale that slipped past the radar
- What happened
- A huge transfer went through without an alert: the radar had been set not to see it.
- The reflex
- Don't rely on a single alert tool: cross-check with the chain itself.
The case
The Whale Radar
The radar was meant to see everything. That night, a colossal transfer went by without a beep.
When CoinJoin privacy leaks
- What happened
- A CoinJoin promised anonymity, but its coordinator kept track of who had sent what.
- The reflex
- A privacy service is only as good as the trust you place in it: on the chain, everything stays visible.
The case
The Betrayed CoinJoin
It promised anonymity. The coordinator may have sold who sent what.
A dormant wallet wakes up
- What happened
- A wallet asleep for years woke up for one big move, then went quiet again.
- The reflex
- Don't react on impulse to a big-move alert: first look at where the funds go.
The case
The Silent Whale
A wallet asleep for years wakes up, just long enough for one move.
Following money through a mixer
- What happened
- A mixer splits, delays and recombines funds to blur the trail, but every step stays recorded on the chain.
- The reflex
- After a theft, report it fast: the sooner the funds are traced, the better the odds of freezing them.
The case
The Mixer Maze
Split, mixed, delayed, recombined: the loot went through a maze.
Tracing a bitcoin ransom
- What happened
- Malware encrypted the hospital's records for a bitcoin ransom, which was then laundered from hand to hand.
- The reflex
- Keep offline backups, and never open an unexpected attachment.
The case
The Hospital Ransom
4 a.m., every screen in the hospital shows the same ransom note.
Laundering sanctioned loot
- What happened
- Sanctioned loot was laundered, from bridge to mixer, down to a broker who bought it for clean money.
- The reflex
- Don't buy crypto off-platform from a stranger: you could be receiving stolen funds.
The case
The Blacklist
Sanctioned loot goes down step by step, until it comes out clean.