TOKYO (TR) – The National Police Agency (NPA) has announced the arrests of a Russian and a Ukrainian national accused of running a massive cryptocurrency money-laundering operation that handled over 60 billion yen for global cybercriminals, reports NHK (June 11).
The pair allegedly managed an underground laundering service known as AudiA6. According to investigators, the service acted as a premier wash-house for cybercrime syndicates, taking direct requests from hacker groups executing ransomware attacks to obscure their illicit digital gains.
The arrests were the culmination of a major joint investigation involving the NPA, Europol, and various U.S. and European law enforcement agencies. Japanese cybercrime investigators played a crucial role in the global bust by successfully recovering wiped server data and tracing specific cryptocurrency accounts linked to the suspects.
Authorities suspect the group washed an eye-watering 60 billion yen in dirty crypto assets. Among their clientele were notorious hacker collectives responsible for confirmed cyberattacks on victims within Japan.
Following the international takedown, the NPA vowed to continue deepening its ties with foreign investigative bodies to expose the dark web’s financial networks and strictly crack down on borderless cybercrime.
