According to latest reports, Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), the Dutch Anti-Fraud agency, on Tuesday raided 15 addresses and arrested 10 suspects in an extensive investigation into Bitcoin payments made and received for criminal products and services over the Dark Web, NLTimes reported. Those arrested are suspected of money laundering.
The Public Prosecutor announced that the investigation was commenced after information was received from banks regarding hefty amounts of money being paid over and always withdrawn as cash within a short period of time. Millions of euros are expected to be involved in this investigation.
Several suspects were identified during the investigation, who were either criminal “traders” on the Dark Web or “bitcoin-cashers” who exchange bitcoins for cash and are paid by the traders. However, the latter are considered as the main suspects in this investigation. According to the prosecutor, bitcoin trade is an attractive method for money laundering as it is unregulated.
The raids were conducted in Rotterdam, Zoetermeer, Almere, Dordrecht, Zaandijk, Schiedam, ‘s-Gravenhage and Putten. The FIOD seized luxury cars, cash, bank accounts, raw materials used to manufacture ecstasy, as well as bitcoin accounts through rogatory letters to the U.S., Australia, Lithuania and Morocco.
