Bitcoin Fraudster Has Assets Targeted by US Secret Service

A U.S. investigator petitions a District court to seize the assets of an alleged Bitcoin fraudster Scott Reed.

Secret Service agent Jason B. Brown petitioned the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville to seize an iPhone and other computer equipment Reed used to earn Bitcoin on the dark web.

Reed Hacked Credit Cards to Earn Bitcoin

A former software engineer, Reed hacked credit cards to buy iTunes and Google gift cards to sell for Bitcoin on the dark web. The marketplace was notorious for peddling drugs, stolen financial information, and child pornography.

According to Brown, Reed converted the sales proceeds to U.S. dollars and deposited them into two BitPay accounts with numbers 4179470003708205 and 4179470004143808.

He could then access funds through a BitPay debit card. Reed held $13,595.48 in his BitPay accounts.

Brown has asked the court for permission to seize the funds and other electronic assets, including laptops, tablets, and computer storage equipment besides the iPhone.

Previous searches of Reed’s residence revealed credit card replication equipment and point-of-sale software.

BitPay voluntarily froze Reed’s funds after his initial arrest. Reed died on Feb. 8, 2023, at the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville.

U.S. investigators seized $7 billion in cryptocurrency last year, including $3.6 billion from the iconic 2016 Bitfinex hack. Authorities also announced in November last year the seizure of $3.36 billion from the darknet marketplace Silk Road a year earlier.

Darknet Revenues Fell 50% in 2022

Last year, London’s Metropolitan Police traced drug-related darknet crypto transactions to assist the operational side of a financial investigation.

Through forensic tools, they discovered a wallet address that received significant funds from Spain, suggesting that this entity imported drugs into the U.K.

How U.K. Police Traced Assets in Drug Ring | Source: Chainalysis

According to the Chainalysis 2023 Crypto Crime Report, darknet and fraud shop marketplace revenue fell almost 50% to $1.5 billion last year.

Darknet and Fraud Shop Revenue | Source: Chainalysis

The highest-earning marketplace Hydra Darknet earned over $500 million peddling drugs and money laundering services. It was shut down by U.S. and German authorities last year, with law enforcement seizing $25 million in Bitcoin.

Fraud shops, which sell credit-card and other personally identifiable information, saw a dramatic dropoff in revenue. The shutdown of prominent vendors like the Bypass Shop partly triggered this decline.

For BeInCrypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.

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