It is reported that an investigation centered on Monero led to the arrest of the suspected mastermind of a 100 million yen credit card fraud for the first time in Japan.
A joint investigation by the National Police Agency's Cyber Special Investigation Department led to the arrest of the mastermind on suspicion of profiting from the stolen credit cards, and the amount of damage exceeded 100 million yen, Nikkei Asia reported.
On October 21, the group allegedly used Monero (XMR) to launder proceeds from its operations, according to the report. Investigators tracked the flow of Monero, marking the first successful case in Japan of using such analysis to identify a suspect. However, details about how the tracking took place remain unclear.
Suspect Kobayashi listed fake products on an online marketplace from June to July 2021, simulated 42 transactions using stolen credit card information, and defrauded the platform of 2.75 million yen in sales proceeds. It is suspected that Investigators believe the group carried out approximately 900 fraudulent transactions between June 2021 and January 2022 using credit card information likely obtained through phishing scams.
Police arrested 18 people associated with the group, which recruited members through social media advertisements for “black market jobs” and communicated using encrypted messaging apps. Authorities classify the organization as an “anonymous and mobile criminal organization.”
Monero faces increased scrutiny after warning from authorities
The arrest comes amid mounting pressure on Monero following a series of delistings from centralized exchanges in Europe. In early October, Kraken announced that it would suspend trading and depositing Monero in the European Economic Area due to regulatory changes.
Japan's Financial Services Agency has been strictly monitoring privacy-oriented virtual currencies since 2018, and has asked domestic exchanges to discontinue support for Monero, Zcash, etc. in order to curb money laundering and cybercrime. . In early 2024, analysts at French blockchain analysis firm Caico predicted that market liquidity for privacy tokens, including Monero and Zcash, had fallen to record lows as crypto exchanges continued to delist these assets. reported that it did.
