US govt seeks to seize 280 cryptocurrency accounts used by North Korean hackers

The US government filed a complaint to seize 280 cryptocurrency accounts which were allegedly used by North Korean hackers who stole millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency. The Department of Justice said on August 27 that the hackers stole cryptocurrency from two virtual exchanges and laundered it through Chinese cryptocurrency traders.

The civil forfeiture complaint follows related criminal and civil actions announced in March pertaining to the theft of $250 million in cryptocurrency through other exchange hacks by North Korean actors. The prosecutors have alleged that a virtual currency exchange was hacked in July 2019 by a North Korean actor who stole over $272,000 worth of alternative cryptocurrencies and tokens.

The stolen funds were laundered through several intermediary addresses and other virtual currency exchanges and also used “chain hopping” technique to obfuscate the transaction path. The Justice Department said that law enforcement agencies were able to trace the funds despite the “sophisticated laundering techniques” used in cybercrime.

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Involvement of Chinese OTC actors

In a related incident, a US-based company was also hacked in September 2019 by a North Korea-associated hacker who gained access to the company’s virtual currency wallets, funds held by the company on other platforms, and funds held by the company’s partners.  The hacker allegedly stole nearly $2.5 million and laundered it through over 100 accounts at another virtual currency exchange.

According to the court documents, the funds from all the hacks were allegedly laundered by the same group of Chinese over-the-counter actors. Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said that the action exposes the ongoing connections between North Korea’s cyber-hacking program and a Chinese cryptocurrency money laundering network.

“This case underscores the department’s ongoing commitment to counter the threat presented by North Korean cyber hackers by exposing their criminal networks and tracing and seizing their ill-gotten gains,” Rabbitt said in a statement.

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