$365,000 Worth of Bitcoin From Darknet Criminals

Hacker Michael Richo, who was arrested on October 5, 2016, has admitted that he stole a total of $365,000 worth of Bitcoin from darknet marketplaces, News 8 reports.

For this crime, Richo could serve up to 30 years of jail time.

Modus operandi

Richo has established several phishing sites in order to gain access to user credentials.

A phishing site is used to trick users in order to obtain their sensitive information such as login accounts, and passwords. Cybercriminals, particularly those operating in the darknet, are expected to be already aware of such sites, but they were tricked by Richo just the same. He was able to trick users to his phishing sites by posting fake links on forums and other online marketplaces.

Modern-day Robinhood?

A number of darknet marketplaces became victims of the phishing sites created by Richo. By gaining access to the sites’ user credentials, Richo was able to access the users’ accounts in the real darknet marketplace and stole their Bitcoin balance.

All the funds stolen by Richo, however, are believed to be owned by darknet criminals, who could have utilized the money for illegal activities.

Richo then deposited the stolen Bitcoin to his LocalBitcoins account. He also conducted bank transfers to his account at Bank of America, as well as his Green Dot prepaid debit cards.

Another win for FBI

After almost three years of monitoring and building a case against Richo, operatives from the FBI finally arrested him in 2014.

During their examination of his computers, the operatives discovered more than 10,000 stolen login credentials. They also found that his phishing sites were created in a very professional and meticulous manner that allowed him to trick even the most experienced darknet users.

The court hearing Richo’s case is scheduled to issue its verdict on September 28, 2017.

Bitcoin Ethical Hacking Leads to Solving FBI Murder Case

An ethical whitehat hacker was said to have helped the FBI in solving a murder case.

Bitcoin independent researcher Chris Monteiro who has has breached into the database of phony darknet website which offers hitmen and gunmen for hire and leaked the date into a legit website has accidentally helped solve the murder case of Mrs. Amy Allwine, NASDAQ reports.

Suicide or murder?

In November 2016, 47-year-old Mrs. Allwine was found dead in their home in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. While her husband Stephen Carl Allwine tried to cover up the death as a suicide by putting a pistol next to his wife’s elbow, further investigations led to the police investigators concluding that it was a case of murder.

Hence, in January 2017, Stephen Allwine was charged with second-degree murder based on the evidence collected which all belonged to him.

Dark web led investigators to real killer

While the suspect has been arrested and charged, Mrs. Allwine’s case was eventually given more light because of the leaked data from “bRpsd” which was put to light by Monteiro’s probing. In May 2016, “bRpsd” breach the database of a darknet website offering hitmen and gunmen for hire: Besa Mafia.

Besa Mafia is offering $5,000 up to $200,000 fee to hire hitmen to kill somebody. From that data dump uploaded to a public internet website, police were able to trace a connection to Mr. Allwine. They’ve found out that Mr. Stephen Allwine has been using the darknet in as early as 2014 using the name “dogdaygod” which is linked to his email address: dogdaygod@hmamail.com.

With thorough analysis of the data dump, investigators found out Mr. Allwine’s email on the list of Besa Mafia clients.

Criminal complaint records show that Mr. Allwine was supposed to pay Besa Mafia $10,000 - $15,000 as payment for the hitmen who were supposedly to kill his wife.

Scam leading to solving the case

However, it turned out that Besa Mafia was a scam as they are just collecting Bitcoins from their clients though they do not necessarily carry out their mission of killing their supposed target.

For Mr. Allwine’s case, after he transffered the funds to Besa Mafia, his communicators advised him that their hitman was apprehended by the police and was jailed.

However, investigators have found that no one was apprehended or jailed in Minnesota during that period, thus creating a suspicion that that Mr. Allwin himself did the crime instead of the hitman.

It is likely that the independent researcher’s data breach has impacted Mr. Allwine’s case based on the various data it has unraveled as the Washington County District Court has charged Mr. Allwine with first-degree murder on March 24, 2017.

Additionally, police investigators have also discovered that Mrs. Allwine’s body contained a high level of a drug called scopolamine, which investigators later found was ordered by Mr. Allwine on the dark web.