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Vice: The FBI Ran an 'Elon Musk' Crypto Money Laundering Operation for Almost a Year [View all]
Vice - The FBI Ran an ‘Elon Musk’ Crypto Money Laundering Operation for Almost a Year
By Luis Prada
April 9, 2025, 11:14am
After being hijacked by the FBI, a cybercrime ring was operated by federal agents for close to a year, and it’s exactly as sketchy as it sounds.
As first reported by 404 Media, the FBI’s year-long operation of the dark web money laundering operation “ElonmuskWHM” advertised on shady forums like White House Market allowed criminals to “cash out” their cryptocurrency—profits from drug deals, ransomware attacks, and other nefarious deeds—without ever revealing their identities.
Cybercriminals could send their digital loot and receive cash in the mail, with ElonmuskWHM (then the FBI) receiving a hefty 20 percent cut in exchange.
The FBI didn’t just infiltrate ElonmuskWHM the way they might in fictional depictions of the organization in movies and TV. They didn’t plant a mole or two within its ranks to acquire valuable information that could be used in a court case one day. They ran the operation for 11 months, allowing $90 million worth of cryptocurrency to flow through their system.
The FBI’s undercover tactics aren’t exactly subtle and may not have been constitutional. 404 Media’s Joseph Cox reported that the organization went so far as to demand Google hand over information about anyone who watched a specific YouTube video during an eight-day window—an action many would argue crosses the line into Big Brother territory.
/snip
By Luis Prada
April 9, 2025, 11:14am
After being hijacked by the FBI, a cybercrime ring was operated by federal agents for close to a year, and it’s exactly as sketchy as it sounds.
As first reported by 404 Media, the FBI’s year-long operation of the dark web money laundering operation “ElonmuskWHM” advertised on shady forums like White House Market allowed criminals to “cash out” their cryptocurrency—profits from drug deals, ransomware attacks, and other nefarious deeds—without ever revealing their identities.
Cybercriminals could send their digital loot and receive cash in the mail, with ElonmuskWHM (then the FBI) receiving a hefty 20 percent cut in exchange.
The FBI didn’t just infiltrate ElonmuskWHM the way they might in fictional depictions of the organization in movies and TV. They didn’t plant a mole or two within its ranks to acquire valuable information that could be used in a court case one day. They ran the operation for 11 months, allowing $90 million worth of cryptocurrency to flow through their system.
The FBI’s undercover tactics aren’t exactly subtle and may not have been constitutional. 404 Media’s Joseph Cox reported that the organization went so far as to demand Google hand over information about anyone who watched a specific YouTube video during an eight-day window—an action many would argue crosses the line into Big Brother territory.
/snip
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read