U.S. Attorney General William Barr, December 10, 2019.
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WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice said it dismantled an extensive cyber campaign used by overseas terrorist organizations to fund its operations and seized $ 2 million from more than 300 cryptocurrency accounts in what it described as the largest seizure ever.
The Justice Department said that three overseas terrorist groups – al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas; al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIS – use cryptocurrencies and social media to raise money for their terror campaigns.
“It should come as no surprise that our enemies use modern technology, social media platforms and cryptocurrency to facilitate their malicious and violent agendas,” Attorney General William Barr said in a release. “As announced today, we will occupy the funds and instrumentalities that provide a lifeline for their operations if possible,” he added.
“Terrorist networks have adapted to technology, carrying out complex financial transactions in the digital world, including through cryptocurrencies. IRS-CI special agents in the DC cybercrimes unit are working hard to discover these financial networks,” said Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin in a release.
In one case, the US secretly took over websites operated by al-Qassam Brigades and controlled those who thought they had opened their cyber portfolios to the terrorist group, but instead donated money to an account managed by the U.S. government, according to legal documents that were unsafe Thursday in the District of Columbia.
A senior justice official said federal agents were investigating individuals who donated to those accounts.
Federal agents said the al-Qaida campaign was based in Syria and asked for funds to buy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, and the ISIS campaign sought to take advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic by selling of counterfeit personal protective equipment.
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