The Australian Border Force (ABF) has had a busy start to the week, bringing 55g of MDMA tablets and powder off the streets. The MDMA was found hidden inside a children’s painting kit bound for the Perth Metropolitan area, and following the find, the ABF raided the address. Upon raiding the property, the ABF found a hardware wallet that contained $1.5 million in various cryptocurrencies. It’s being suspected that cryptocurrency was used in order to purchase the drugs from abroad and ship them to Australia.
Drug Dealers Using Crypto Get Caught – Fact
Virtually every single drug dealer that uses crypto either to sell or purchase merchandise has been caught thanks to the pseudonymous nature of crypto. Unfortunately for drug lords, they just don’t seem to understand how Bitcoin works, making them easy pickings for agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Earlier this year, the dynamic drug dealing duo known as the Monsons were arrested for running a dark web drug ring from their California home. The pair accepted Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash – both pseudonymous cryptocurrencies – to try and hide the transactions. Unfortunately, the DEA aren’t stupid and caught the pair…
Don’t Get Caught Buying Stamps
Another prominent drug ring in the US was caught selling fake Adderall pills after they made a mistake when buying stamps. The drug ring started to use Endica to buy stamps online and automate the shipping process. However, police quickly cottoned don to the Bitcoin transactions and quickly arrested the group. The Adderall pills were in fact home cooked and contained 100% methamphetamine – taking users on a very different type of trip.
It’s great to see government agencies finally using cryptocurrency to track down the drug dealers, but one day the dealers will get smarter. The technology already exists to hide these transactions and make them totally anonymous, but apparently dealers prefer jail rather than a half hour doing some homework.
