FBI seizes Hamas crypto pipeline instead of chasing donations one by one

Instead of attempting to pursue the money, agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) broke into the fundraising mechanism itself. Via their own informants, the bureau’s Albuquerque Field Office tracked down the servers, domains, and rotating crypto addresses through which donations were solicited for Hamas, thus being able to take control of parts of that mechanism.

According to the announcement from the US Justice Department (DOJ), the operation resulted in the seizure of nearly $560,000 in cryptocurrency that was meant to go to the military wing of Hamas, the Al Qassam Brigades.

This case shows that public blockchains can also be used against those who are trying to fund illegal activities. The same transparency that makes it possible for donors to find an address enables investigators to track transactions, recreate the flow of funds, and determine where the money has gone.

How agents got inside the donation pipeline

According to the DOJ, the fundraising scheme used an encrypted group chat to direct supporters to a website and provide rotating crypto addresses. Changing addresses may complicate tracing, but it did not stop investigators.

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