Al-Qassam Brigades boasted that bitcoin donations are untraceable and it would use it for terrorism.
However, the agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) tracked and seized all of Al-Qassam Brigades 150 cryptocurrency accounts.
Simultaneously, law enforcement officers executed criminal search warrants to U.S. based individuals who donated to the terrorist campaigns. They also seized and shut down the terrorist group’s websites and covertly operated one of them.
During the covert operations, individuals supporting the terrorist group unknowingly donated funds to bitcoin wallets controlled by the U.S. government.
U.S. authorities also filed criminal charges against two Turkish individuals named Mehmett Akti and Hüsamettin Karataş, who acted as related money launderers while operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The Al-Qaeda campaign
The Al-Qaeda and its affiliated terrorist groups’ terror fundraising campaign involve operating a bitcoin laundering network and soliciting cryptocurrency donations.
