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FBI Seizes Bitcoin Worth Quite $2.2 Million From Ransomware Affiliate

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has taken bitcoin price quite $2.2 million tied to ransomware payments. The cryptocurrency allegedly belongs to an affiliate of Gandcrab and Revil/Sodinokibi ransomware.

US Seizes Bitcoin price Over $2 Million

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has taken nearly forty bitcoins from a Russian resident tied to Revil and Gandcrab ransomware, in line with a court document unsealed Tues. The forfeiture criticism reads:

The United States of America files this verified criticism in rem against 39.89138522 bitcoin taken from EXODUS billfold … that’s currently settled and within the custody and management of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) city Division.

At the time of writing, the value of bitcoin is around $56,318.06 supported by Bitcoin.com Markets. The number taken totals nearly $2.247 million.

The seizure materialized on Aug. 3. whereas the FBI didn’t reveal however it gained access to the billfold, the court document explains that the billfold contained Revil ransom payments happiness to AN affiliate known as Aleksandr Sikerin (aka Alexander Sikerin and Oleksandr Sikerin), whose email address is [email protected].

According to Bleeping pc, the name “engfog” within the email address is tied to a well known Gandcrab and Revil/Sodinokibi affiliate referred to as “Lalartu.”

Gandcrab and Revil organizations operated as Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), wherever core operators partner with third-party hackers, referred to as affiliates, the news outlet noted, adding that ransom payments ar split between the affiliate and core operators. The operators sometimes earn between 20% to 30% of the ransom.

Earlier this month, the U.S. The Department of Justice (DOJ) proclaimed that it had taken $6.1 million from Yevgeniy Polyanin, a Russian “charged with deploying Sodinokibi/Revil ransomware to attack businesses and government entities within the U.S..”

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has been increasing its efforts to fight ransomware attacks. The executive department has already sanctioned 2 cryptocurrency exchanges tied to ransom payments.

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