About $ 1 million in cryptocurrency stolen in Kiev. Part of the funds surfaced on the Binance exchange

In December, unknown persons stole cryptocurrency worth about a million dollars in Kyiv. According to some reports,funds were distributed across variousexchangers and exchanges for withdrawal to fiat. The police are investigating, with the recent blocking of user accounts on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.

Earlier, the Telegram channel Goldfoundinshit TM wrote about the theft with reference to its sources, mentioning that the investigation already has a possible suspect.

During the investigation, representatives of the Ukrainian cyber police contacted the Binance exchange and demanded to block a number of accounts for the duration of the investigation.

ForkLog wrote about one such case at the beginning.January: the Binance administration blocked the account of the trader Alexander with a large amount on the account - the user was no longer able to enter the account and, accordingly, withdraw funds.

The support service informed him of the need to wait 30 days, "while the investigation is going on," the site did not ask about the origin of the funds.

The trader himself called the possible reason for blocking the receipt of USDT in his account, which he acquired at the end of December from a friend. By the way, the seller’s account was also blocked.

ForkLog contacted Alexander and he said that his account is still locked. At the same time, the support service provided him with the contacts of an investigator from the cyber police of Ukraine.

«The police representative replied that he was on his wayan investigation into my account because someone reported the theft of assets, and these assets eventually arrived at my address. I personally know the person from whom I purchased this cryptocurrency. He also bought it for cash from third parties»,- said the trader.

UPDATE at 16:47:According to the seller, also Alexander,The cyber police were interested in three transactions totaling $518,100. However, the exchange blocked all user funds, which together exceeded this amount several times.

Interestingly, neither Alexander nor his seller have yet received any procedural status in the case.

«There is no status as such. I did not see either the case or the statement - the secret of the investigation. The police have no questions for me»,- he said.

However, he knows that the person who has been stolen $ 1 million in cryptocurrency personally knows the alleged offender:

“I don’t go into these details, because essentially they are having proceedings among themselves, everyone else in the case is only indirect.”

In addition to Alexander and his seller, two more users are known - Mikhail and Konstantin, whose accounts were completely blocked. All four are citizens of the Russian Federation.

According to Michael, who has a Binancethere is a six-figure amount in dollars, since the blocking on January 6, neither the stock exchange nor the police of Ukraine have asked him either about his activities or the origin of the money, or about any transactions. He also has no procedural status in the case.

Here is a letter from the investigator received by almost all blocked users:

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Konstantin, who also lost access to several hundred thousand rubles, cannot yet confirm with 100% certainty that the blocking of his account is related to the &#171;Kyiv case&#187;:

&#171;I was blocked before everyone else -December 16, 2019. But at the same time, they treat me the most harshly: Binance does not tell me anything about the &#171;Kiev case&#187; do not say anything. Up until January 21, I was completely ignored. After the high praise we raised, they wrote me a reply: account under review. Therefore, I don’t yet dare to guess about the reasons for the block.

UPDATE 12:53:The support service reported that the blockingKonstantin’s account was associated with a user’s violation of the Exchange’s Terms of Use. The account is unlocked for withdrawal of funds for a few days, after which it will be deactivated. To the &#171;Kyiv case&#187; this case had nothing to do with it.

The official representative of the Binance exchange in the Russian Federation, Gleb Kostarev, in an interview with the Incrypted Youtube channel on January 28, admitted that due to the situation with blocking, the platform “worked imperfectly.”

&#171;The case is exceptional and quite serious.They did not work perfectly in the sense that users did not receive feedback from the support service for a long time. We analyzed the situation internally and came to the conclusion that if the situation repeats, we must react more quickly&#187;,- he said.

In a comment on ForkLog, Kostarev said that the term for unlocking user accounts would be determined by agreement with the police.

Until further notice, Binance will not take any action with your accounts.

We add that on the air Incrypted Kostarev saidthat on this fact the police of Ukraine opened a criminal proceeding on the laundering of money obtained by criminal means. ForkLog, he said that one of the victims is already talking with the police in this regard.

It is noteworthy that ForkLog sources in Kiev law enforcement agencies did not confirm the information on the availability of criminal proceedings on the fact of theft of funds.

UPDATE at 16:00:According to a ForkLog source fromlaw enforcement agencies, an unnamed financial pyramid operating throughout Ukraine was involved in the theft of almost $1 million in cryptocurrency. Its organizers operate through the Binance cryptocurrency exchange. The case has now been transferred from Kyiv to the Odessa cyber police, since that is where the main office of the pyramid is supposedly located.

Owners of blocked accounts emphasized that they did not receive such information from the investigator.

Binance Exchange Security Department Comment

The editors of ForkLog asked the Binance exchange to clarify a few points on the situation with locks.

ForkLog: By what criteria does the exchange divide the &#171;net&#187; and &#171;dirty&#187; cryptocurrency?

Binance:Many factors:other user complaints, open proceedings (meaning that the victim filed a statement with the police), direct statements from the police or other law enforcement agencies, independent online tracking tools (Chainalysis, etc.).

ForkLog: Is it true to say that frequent deposit / withdrawal transactions on a private account can cause account blocking?

Binance:This does not cause account suspension as such.

A decision to block can be made in the event ofadverse account actions (such as hacking / fraud / phishing), external factors (treatment by law enforcement agencies, police, regulatory authorities) or based on data from analytical tools such as Chainalysis. The type of account (corporate or regular / retail) does not matter.

Binance will not block or freezeyour account if one of the above actions is not performed. Secondly, Binance never freezes or blocks your account without giving reasons.

ForkLog: Is it true to say that blocking user funds for withdrawal is necessary for the further use of balances as material evidence?

Binance:In some cases, when there is a direct request from a law enforcement agency/agent.

Binance will cooperate with directrequests of law enforcement agencies, otherwise our actions may be considered as an obstacle to justice. Law enforcement authorities may ask to block the withdrawal of funds, completely block the account, block a certain amount of currency, may ask you to do nothing. Binance must do what we were asked to do.

ForkLog will continue to monitor the situation.