CAB winning war against crypto crime

Crafty criminals now using Bitcoin to hide gains

- EMMA McMENAMY

THE Criminal Assets Bureau is seeing more crafty criminals using cryptocurrency to hide their ill gotten gains.

Bureau legal officer Kevin McMeel admitted that it’s trickier for the Garda agency to get at cyber-savvy thugs but they are facing them head-on and winning.

Speaking on a two-part series about the work of the organisation, Mr. McMeel said: “We at the Criminal Assets Bureau see the increased use of cryptocurrency as being a unique challenge that we have, but it’s one I think we have met quite well in recent years.

“Cryptocurrency by its very nature is very difficult to identify and locate.”

And he said that one of the successful cases the organisation has had involving cryptocurrency in recent years was that of Conor Freeman, 21, who took part in the online theft of more than $2million worth of cryptocurrencies.