Japanese authorities, including a joint task force of the National Police Agency and nine prefectural police forces, have arrested 18 people involved in a scam using Monero (XMR).
According to multiple reports, the suspects are suspected of using stolen credit card information to make fraudulent purchases, mainly on the flea market app Mercari.
The defendant is said to have managed 42 fraudulent transactions from June to July 2021, defrauding Mercari of approximately 2.7 million yen. In total, the group is believed to have executed around 900 fake transactions and amassed around 100 million yen ($670,000).
Japanese authorities say this incident is the first time Japanese law enforcement has successfully traced a Monero transaction, leading to an arrest.
Monero is known for its robust privacy features that make it difficult to track. It uses ring signatures, which hide funds and make them virtually untraceable to the parties involved in the transfer. The Monero blockchain also does not track address balances, so the scope for on-chain analysis is very limited.
The investigation began in August 2024 following the establishment of Japan's Cyber Special Investigation Unit, which was created specifically to combat the rise in cybercrime surrounding virtual currencies.
Earlier this year, XMR was delisted by the world's largest exchange Binance and removed by Kraken in two European countries.
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Featured image: Shutterstock/GreenBelka/wacomka
