Main Takeaways
Binance's Financial Crime Compliance and Investigations team has collaborated with the Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service to freeze millions of euros linked to a major gambling platform exit scam.
The firm's compliance procedures, anti-money laundering detection tools, and analytics capabilities played a vital part in detecting suspicious activity and helping law enforcement trace the suspect.
Last year, Binance's dedicated teams responded to over 58,000 law enforcement requests and conducted approximately 120 training sessions to share expertise with worldwide law enforcement entities, highlighting its commitment to bolstering the security of the Web3 ecosystem.
Binance’s number one commitment is to protect users and help keep the digital-asset ecosystem safe from bad actors. In line with this mission, Binance’s Financial Crime Compliance (FCC) and Investigations team has recently assisted The Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), the Netherlands government agency responsible for investigating financial crimes, in freezing millions of euros stolen in a major gambling platform exit scam.
Return Not Intended
As the FIOD reported, on April 29, an individual was arrested for suspected fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering amid an investigation into a large-scale scam related to the alleged gambling platform, ZKasino. As the report details, “ZKcasino presented itself as a gambling platform and blockchain casino. Investors were led to believe that they would get their investments back within 30 days.” However, it would later come to light that the way the smart contract was set up on the blockchain suggested that such a return “was not intended.”
Initially alerted to the alleged scam by the community, members of Binance FCC and Investigations team proactively researched the case, collecting and verifying available information from open sources. Subsequently, they pointed law enforcement to the suspect, who was also a Binance account holder, and provided transaction tracing necessary for crime fighters to obtain a more detailed picture of the case.
Binance’s compliance procedures and controls played a key role in countering the suspect who attempted to abuse the platform. Our anti-money laundering detection and analytics tools and expertise allowed our Investigations and Sanctions team to detect suspicious activity, which prompted a thorough review of potential Binance exposure and risks associated with the accounts involved. Blockchain analytics tool supplied by one of our industry partners helped attribute the addresses to ZKasino. Binance then shared intelligence with law enforcement to help the investigation of the exit scam, and assisted with freezing the ill-gotten funds.
This is an ongoing investigation, and according to the FIOD, “more arrests are not ruled out.”
Industry-Leading Task Force
Binance recognizes that it has an immense responsibility as an industry leader to safeguard the global crypto ecosystem and its users from bad actors. We have built the industry’s most robust investigations task force to ensure users and investors are protected.
Our compliance and investigations experts continue to lead close collaborations with law enforcement agencies and regulators worldwide, allowing Binance to remain at the forefront of fighting cyber financial crimes globally. This hard work pays off when criminals looking to abuse the crypto ecosystem find their plans thwarted and stolen funds frozen or seized.
In another recent example of a successful law enforcement collaboration, Binance assisted Indian authorities in disrupting a fraudulent investment scheme under the guise of a gaming platform, which also led to clawing back millions of dollars worth of assets.
Overall, Binance has been instrumental in addressing a range of significant security threats and major crimes including terrorist financing, child sexual abuse material distribution, nation-state hacking, intellectual property theft, narcotics smuggling, and investment scams. Last year, Binance’s dedicated teams responded to over 58,000 law enforcement requests – with an average of three days response time, which is faster than any traditional financial institution – and held some 120 training sessions to share expertise with law enforcement worldwide.
