US EditionFBI Reveals Year-Long Operation Running Dark Web Money Laundering Service
- The FBI operated a dark web money laundering service called ElonmuskWHM for nearly a year to investigate cybercriminals who used it to exchange cryptocurrency for cash, charging a 20 percent fee.
- ElonmuskWHM processed nearly $90 million worth of cryptocurrency during its operation.
- Anurag Pramod Murarka, the operator of ElonmuskWHM, was arrested and sentenced to 121 months in prison in January after being identified by the FBI.
- The operation helped link Murarka to various criminal activities, including drug trafficking in Miami and multiple hacking cases.
17 Articles
17 Articles
‘Elon Musk’ Was a Prolific Money Launderer for Hackers and Drug Traffickers. It Was Secretly the FBI
The shed-sized post office opposite a Baptist Church 40 miles outside of Louisville, Kentucky, was an unlikely starting point for one of the most significant undercover FBI operations in recent years. Inside that post office on September 17, 2021, sat a package that had arrived a few days earlier. On the face of it that package and others like it shipped over the coming months were not suspicious. They often contained children’s books. Nestled i…
FBI Infiltrates $24M Dark Web Laundering Scheme by Running It Themselves
Instead of shutting the network down, agents ran it for over a year to identify criminal clients using it to clean funds tied to hacks, drug sales, and violent crime. Murarka had been laundering millions in crypto before he was detained during a medical visit to the U.S. With access to his infrastructure, the FBI monitored transactions and flipped several of his cash mules into informants. Investigators used creative tactics, including sending o…
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