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The Department of Justice announced Thursday the "dismantling of three terrorist financing cyber-enabled campaigns," targeting efforts by the al-Qassam Brigades -- the military wing of Hamas – Al Qaeda and ISIS.
U.S. officials said these terror groups used cryptocurrency and social media to raise funds from around the world for their operations. American authorities have now used judicially-authorized warrants to seize millions of dollars from over 300 cryptocurrency accounts, four websites, and four Facebook pages related to the terror groups’ "criminal enterprise."
“It should not surprise anyone that our enemies use modern technology, social media platforms, and cryptocurrency to facilitate their evil and violent agendas,” said Attorney General William Barr. “We will prosecute their money laundering, terrorist financing, and violent illegal activities wherever we find them. And, as announced today, we will seize the funds and the instrumentalities that provide a lifeline for their operations whenever possible."
The Justice Department says the al-Qassam Brigades, on their websites, “boasted that bitcoin donations were untraceable and would be used for violent causes.” (Justice Department)
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The DOJ said funds forfeited with a connection to a state sponsor of terrorism may be directed to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund after the conclusion of the investigation.
"Terrorist networks have adapted to technology, conducting complex financial transactions in the digital world, including through cryptocurrencies," said Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin. "Today's actions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to holding malign actors accountable for their crimes.”
Overall, the Justice Department seized $2 million from cryptocurrency accounts linked to the three groups, according to John Demers, a senior official with its National Security Division.
“Two million is a lot of equipment, a lot of tickets to fly people around the world... this represents a significant dent, this is going to make a big difference in their operations,” he told Fox News.
The Justice Department says Al Qaeda "operated a bitcoin money laundering network using Telegram channels and other social media platforms to solicit cryptocurrency donations to further their terrorist goals." (Justice Department)
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The Justice Department, in a press release, said the al-Qassam Brigades launched their online financing efforts last year with “a call on its social media page for bitcoin donations to fund its campaign of terror.”
The request was then moved to three of their official websites, where the terrorist group “boasted that bitcoin donations were untraceable and would be used for violent causes.”
“Their websites offered video instruction on how to anonymously make donations, in part by using unique bitcoin addresses generated for each individual donor,” the release said.
However, the Justice Department says the donations weren’t anonymous and investigators "tracked and seized all 150 cryptocurrency accounts that laundered funds to and from the al-Qassam Brigades’ accounts.”
Investigators, with judicial authorization, then seized the infrastructure of the three websites and “during that covert operation, [one of the websites] received funds from persons seeking to provide material support to the terrorist organization, however, they instead donated the funds [into] bitcoin wallets controlled by the United States,” the release added.
ISIS tried to raise money by selling fake PPE, the Justice Department says. Shown here is a website created for that effort. (Justice Department)
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As for Al Qaeda, the Justice Department says it ran a scheme with other affiliated terrorist groups, largely out of Syria.
“As the forfeiture complaint details, these terrorist organizations operated a bitcoin money laundering network using Telegram channels and other social media platforms to solicit cryptocurrency donations to further their terrorist goals,” the release said. “In some instances, they purported to act as charities when, in fact, they were openly and explicitly soliciting funds for violent terrorist attacks.”
The Justice Department also said the ISIS effort was run by a “facilitator” who claimed to sell “FDA-approved N95 respirator masks” for protection against the spread of the coronavirus.
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The administrators behind a website created for that scam “offered to sell these items to customers across the globe, including a customer in the United States who sought to purchase N95 masks and other protective equipment for hospitals, nursing homes, and fire departments,” the release said.
“There’s a clear indication that the target of this fraud scheme was people in the United States,” a senior Justice Department official told Fox News.
