According to the Forbes report, researchers have uncovered evidence that over $1 million worth of Bitcoin from addresses linked to Ryuk ransomware attacks was moved through a wallet on Binance. The report reveals that researchers took a sample of 63 transactions, representing $5.7 million of the over $61 million estimated by the FBI to have been stolen using the Ryuk ransomware. Of the $5.7 million, $1,064,865 worth of Bitcoin from multiple wallet addresses was bounced through numerous non-connected wallets before eventually finding its way to Binance, where it was cashed out.
The last transaction on the Binance wallet occurred last week.
The Binance wallet has been in use as recently as last week, although the latest transaction, occurring on Aug 22, just a day before the Forbes article was published, emptied the wallet completely. The remaining $4.7 million of ransomed Bitcoin being traced by the researchers is currently still being held in a number of off-exchange addresses. However, the Binance Security Team explained that the transactions mentioned in the Forbes article occurred over 18 months ago, and the relevant accounts had been tracked and reviewed at the time.
Crypto scams continue to rise amid the ongoing pandemic.
Scams related to crypto have increased worldwide amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a warning saying scammers might be looking to unleash a surge in crypto-related scams. Several countries also reported a surge in cryptocurrency scams that included a spike in ransomware attacks, Ponzi schemes, and other different types of scams involving cryptocurrencies. There are several types of crypto scams that have become quite prevalent, including fake giveaways, sextortion, fake exchanges, fake ICO’s, bitcoin recovery, video scams, and Ponzi schemes. Ransomware attacks around the world have also increased.
