Chainalysis utilised Operation Spincaster to train enforcers in identifying compromised wallets and tracing stolen funds using Chainalysis Crypto Investigations solution.
Blockchain data platform Chainalysis has launched Operation Spincaster, a series of operational sprints designed to disrupt and prevent scams through public-private collaboration, to combat the severity of phishing scams taking place worldwide.
By utilising the transparency of blockchain transactions, Chainalysis seeks to enhance the operational sprints under Operation Spincaster across six countries — US, UK, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, and Australia. The operation also includes over over 100 attendees, including 12 public sector agencies and 17 crypto exchanges.
The platform earlier identified that approximately USD $1 billion has been lost to phishing scams since May 2021. After identifying further illicit addresses, our data now reveals that over USD $2.7 billion has been lost to approval phishing – demonstrating that approval phishing is a much bigger problem than previously known. Such ill-gotten gains then become part of the $100 billion sent to mixers and conversion services reported in Chainalysis’s Money Laundering Report.
Over 7000 leads were disseminated during these sprints relating to approximately USD $162 million of losses. These leads were used to close accounts, seize funds and build intelligence to prevent future scams. Operation Spincaster is part of a ecosystem-wide scam prevention that takes a three-pronged approach:
- Public Education and User Awareness: Preventive efforts such as education plays a critical role as the first line of defence against scams.
- Proactive Transaction Monitoring for Exchanges: Exchanges can monitor for suspected approval phishing consolidation wallets with heavy exposure to destination addresses, and take actionable steps such as automatically freezing the funds or reporting to law enforcement.
- Boosting Law Enforcement Capabilities: Law enforcement agencies should invest in blockchain analytics tools and training to combat illicit activities – such as scams – domestically and internationally.
A spokesperson for the Policia Nacional, España, said, “Spincaster’s success comes not only from its preventive measures and fraud detection results, but also from strengthening relationships between public and private sectors for a coordinated fight against this type of crime. Additionally, it benefits from the knowledge gained in detecting and investigating this specific modus operandi used in the cryptocurrency field.”
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