US disrupts North Korea's $400 million crypto scam, FBI says
The US has seized servers linked to a North Korean scam that used fake video meetings and deepfakes to steal more than $400 million in crypto, and has moved to seize $1.2 billion that was taken from Binance.
The US Justice Department has seized cloud infrastructure used by North Korean hackers in a crypto scam known as FaceStealer, which has stolen over $400 million in cryptocurrency over 18 months. The FBI also seized or restrained over $1.2 billion taken in the recent Binance hack. The scam, which uses video calls and AI-generated deepfakes, involves hackers sending meeting invitations from compromised accounts and then recording the victim's webcam to make it appear as if trusted contacts are present.
Once a target joins, the hackers install malware, allowing them to steal funds over months or even years. The FBI ties FaceStealer to a hacking cluster known as Sapphire Sleet or UNC1069, separate from the group responsible for the Binance theft. North Korea has denied involvement in the Binance hack but has acknowledged using cryptocurrency theft to fund its regime and weapons program.
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