Cryptocurrency-related cyber crime is becoming a huge problem within the space, and many organizations are looking to tackle the issue head-on and potentially do something about it before things get any worse.
Is Crypto Crime About to Come to an End?
One of those organizations is known as the J5. Short for the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, the leaders of this association only joined hands about one year ago but are already well on their way to becoming one of the biggest and strongest cryptocurrency crime-fighting groups there is.
The association is comprised of intelligence communities from countries like Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands. Tax crime and money laundering are intolerable problems that the organization is seeking to end, through they’re also looking at other cryptocurrency-related crimes. Heads of the organization include senior officials in tax agencies and financial police divisions, such as the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Don Fort, chief of IRS-CI, commented on the work the organization has done in the past. He states:
I’m extremely proud of the work we have accomplished in just one year since the formation of the J5. Each country came to the group with expectations and challenges that needed to be overcome so we could each realize our goal. We have found innovative ways to tackle these problems, remove barriers, and develop processes that make the sum of all our parts a much more efficient and successful organization. It is not a good time to be a tax criminal on the run – your days are numbered.
Leaders of the group say that there have been more “data exchanges between J5 partner agencies” in the past 12 months than in the last decade. The agency is bound together by various laws, which have come about through recent treaties and pacts that financial organizations have formed, and the sharing of information allows the members to open new cases regularly and swiftly. It can also “find efficiencies” to lessen the amount of time spent on each case.
Among the cases the organization is currently working on are roughly 50 involving international tax evaders, including companies that seek to assist individuals in hiding their money and assets throughout “secret global” pockets. In addition, the group is also handling investigations that involve the smuggling of illicit goods and money laundering.
Taking Down the Head Honchos
About two weeks ago, the organization was able to assist in the bringing down of an online cryptocurrency mixer. Such enterprises seek to mix several different cryptocurrencies together and form new transactions to hide the details of illegally-obtained coins and financial data.
Th organization is now celebrating its one-year anniversary in Washington, D.C.