US 'dismantled' cyber-enabled terror financing campaigns: Justice Department

The United States announced on August 13 that it has foiled the attempt of militant groups to raise funds using cryptocurrency and seized millions of dollars. The cyber-enabled terror financing campaigns involved Hamas’s military wing the al-Qassam Brigades, al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

The US Department of Justice said in a statement that over 300 cryptocurrency accounts, four websites, and four Facebook pages related to the enterprise were seized, apart from $2 million. The department added that all the three terror finance campaigns relied on sophisticated cyber-tools, including the solicitation of cryptocurrency donations from around the world. 

“The action demonstrates how different terrorist groups have similarly adapted their terror finance activities to the cyber age,” the statement read. 

The militant groups allegedly used cryptocurrency and social media to garner attention and raise funds for their terror campaigns. Calling it the “largest-ever seizure of cryptocurrency” in the terrorism context, the Justice Department said that the funds may in whole or in part be directed to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund after the conclusion of the case.

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Use of modern technology

Attorney General William Barr stated that the use of modern technology, social media platforms and cryptocurrency by terrorist groups should not surprise anyone. He emphasised that the Department of Justice will employ all available resources to protect the lives and safety of the American public from terrorist groups.

The al-Qassam Brigades urged for bitcoin donations on its social media page to fund its terror campaign and subsequently moved the request to its official websites, alqassam.net, alqassam.ps, and qassam.ps. Al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups operated a bitcoin money-laundering network using Telegram channels and other social media platforms to solicit cryptocurrency donations. 

"Terrorist networks have adapted to technology, conducting complex financial transactions in the digital world, including through cryptocurrencies. IRS-CI special agents in the DC cybercrimes unit work diligently to unravel these financial networks," Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

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