German Police Seize 47 Cryptocurrency Exchange Services Used by Ransomware Gangs and Cybercriminals

BleepingComputer reports that nearly 50 cryptocurrency exchange services leveraged by ransomware operations, botnet operators, and other cybercriminals for money laundering activities have been taken over by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, or BKA.

German law enforcement has taken over 47 cryptocurrency exchange services that were used by ransomware operators, botnet controllers, and other cybercriminals to launder illicit funds, redirecting visitors to a warning page.

The exchanges were seized by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) as part of "Operation Final Exchange," with no arrests announced yet. The exchanges' servers were seized, and their visitors are now redirected to a warning page from the German authorities.

"For years, the operators of these criminal exchange services have led you to believe that their hosting cannot be found, that they do not store any customer data and that all data is deleted immediately after the transaction," reads a portion of the warning page.

"We have found their servers and seized them – development servers, production servers, backup servers. We have their data – and therefore we have your data. Transactions, registration data, IP addresses."

The largest of the 47 exchanges is Xchange.cash, which had over 410,000 users and 1.28 million transactions. It is followed by 60cek.org, Bankcomat.com, Banksman.com, and Prostocash.com, which had over 200,000 users and 400,000 transactions each.

According to BleepingComputer, the cryptocurrency exchanges were used by ransomware gangs, such as Conti, to cash out their illicit profits and avoid detection by law enforcement.

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