Monero - not as safe as it seems ?

[DrBeer]

quite ironic that out of all cryptocurrencies out there it was monero that was able to help them track this criminal mastermind when everyone was hating on crypto/monero for basically giving criminals a platform to launder money but look how it has actually helped the authorities

haters will not like this story

It's a good point of view I mean they have restricted Monero because of its privacy and untraceable transactions but if Japan has done it then other countries can also do it but they might not be making this public (who knows if they are doing it) well so does it mean XMR will not be restricted anymore.

I don't use Monero for privacy but they did not share the whole method of tracking them as well maybe they tracked the transactions done by these new recruits on the site and they tracked these 18 members and they led to the main player of the scam and got caught and they changed the story that they tracked the transactions of XMR to track the scammers.

There is speculation that the result of this de-anonymization was the result of a set of events:
- purposeful actions of certain structures
- mistakes of the perpetrator himself, who was not attentive enough to the issue of moving/exchanging crypto funds

[ABCbits]

--snip--

It is very likely they used a honeypot mixer. The mixer then informed the government and they were caught.

What exactly do you mean by mixer? Monero mixer? If so, AFAIK all of them are scam where they simply steal your Monero.

[yhiaali3]

Monero is a good privacy coin but in the end nothing is untraceable, no matter how careful and cautious the criminal is he will be discovered and tracked down for any small mistake he makes.

The criminal must have made a mistake at some point that led to him being tracked and exposed, and he most likely used one of the central services otherwise how could they have uncovered his identity? Or maybe someone ratted on him when he spent this large sum in a suspicious or scrutinized manner.

[DrBeer]

Monero is a good privacy coin but in the end nothing is untraceable, no matter how careful and cautious the criminal is he will be discovered and tracked down for any small mistake he makes.

The criminal must have made a mistake at some point that led to him being tracked and exposed, and he most likely used one of the central services otherwise how could they have uncovered his identity? Or maybe someone ratted on him when he spent this large sum in a suspicious or scrutinized manner.

This is not the first time Monero has been caught in the information field, about the disclosure and de-anonymization of transactions on its protocol : Representatives of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) managed to trace Monero transactions related to the hacking of the Vastaamo medical network, local media reported .
In October 2022, a hacker attacked the psychotherapy service provider and gained access to the accounts of 33,000 customers. The attacker demanded a 40 BTC ($1.7 million) ransom from the company, and when he didn't get it, he moved on to blackmailing people listed in the user base.
https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/vastaamo-jutussa-iso-paljastus-krp-jaljitti-jaljittamattomana-pidettya-kryptovaluuttaa/8864046#gs.49h3f1

[ZAINmalik75]

In my own estimate, that's more likely like that. Usually, experienced authorities or those in police work specializing on online criminals are just waiting for some red flags, clues, missteps done by people whom they are following and as humans as we are and no matter how super careful we could we as time goes on there will always be like that. And then details will emerge after these criminals are captured. I am not so sure on Monero, actually, as it remains to be one of the top privacy coins in the market and so far associated as a big tool with skipping the government and those in the law.

I agree with your statements they can't catach the scammer because they backtracked the Monero transaction because if Monero transaction is also performed by mixers then tracking it is not a childs play even for the authorities. They must have found any other proofs about the case.

Monero still holds it's feature of providing anonymity, only the work flow of these scammers were to week that they got caught which is a good thing for the community because now they won't scam anyone and it will increase adoption. These scammers make mistake at one point and that lead the police to them directly no wonder media finds it pleasing to target XMR and other privacy tools all the times.

[DrBeer]

In my own estimate, that's more likely like that. Usually, experienced authorities or those in police work specializing on online criminals are just waiting for some red flags, clues, missteps done by people whom they are following and as humans as we are and no matter how super careful we could we as time goes on there will always be like that. And then details will emerge after these criminals are captured. I am not so sure on Monero, actually, as it remains to be one of the top privacy coins in the market and so far associated as a big tool with skipping the government and those in the law.

I agree with your statements they can't catach the scammer because they backtracked the Monero transaction because if Monero transaction is also performed by mixers then tracking it is not a childs play even for the authorities. They must have found any other proofs about the case.

Monero still holds it's feature of providing anonymity, only the work flow of these scammers were to week that they got caught which is a good thing for the community because now they won't scam anyone and it will increase adoption. These scammers make mistake at one point and that lead the police to them directly no wonder media finds it pleasing to target XMR and other privacy tools all the times.

And you deny the possibility of a 0-day vulnerability in the protocol ? Frankly, I am 99% sure that this disclosure is a complex of measures and mistakes of the criminal himself, but.... It is impossible not to admit that there may be problems in Monero's protocol that are not yet known to the general public. And reassuring ourselves that everything is “all nice and safe” will just exacerbate the problem....

[Aanuoluwatofunmi]

I don't even know on what percentage are some people making use of Monero for getting their privacy privileges in making transactions, some will prefer the use of this to that of mixers, or some will say that it is more better for them to run bitcoin full node transaction, if people are still using monero, that indicates it serves it purpose the more and if they don't, it has failed to deliver any longer.

[Jating]

In my own estimate, that's more likely like that. Usually, experienced authorities or those in police work specializing on online criminals are just waiting for some red flags, clues, missteps done by people whom they are following and as humans as we are and no matter how super careful we could we as time goes on there will always be like that. And then details will emerge after these criminals are captured. I am not so sure on Monero, actually, as it remains to be one of the top privacy coins in the market and so far associated as a big tool with skipping the government and those in the law.

I agree with your statements they can't catach the scammer because they backtracked the Monero transaction because if Monero transaction is also performed by mixers then tracking it is not a childs play even for the authorities. They must have found any other proofs about the case.

Monero still holds it's feature of providing anonymity, only the work flow of these scammers were to week that they got caught which is a good thing for the community because now they won't scam anyone and it will increase adoption. These scammers make mistake at one point and that lead the police to them directly no wonder media finds it pleasing to target XMR and other privacy tools all the times.

And you deny the possibility of a 0-day vulnerability in the protocol ? Frankly, I am 99% sure that this disclosure is a complex of measures and mistakes of the criminal himself, but.... It is impossible not to admit that there may be problems in Monero's protocol that are not yet known to the general public. And reassuring ourselves that everything is “all nice and safe” will just exacerbate the problem....

I would have to agree that at some point, maybe there are vulnerabilities in Monero that is not known to the public. And if that is the case, they could have been working to fix it from behind and not make a fuzz out of it so not they will still have the "hype" with them as the top Privacy coins for now.

Maybe in the future blockchain analysis companies will come up on a algo on how to break them. But for now, crypto enthusiast can only assumed that it's still reliable to used them for privacy purposes.

[DrBeer]

I would have to agree that at some point, maybe there are vulnerabilities in Monero that is not known to the public. And if that is the case, they could have been working to fix it from behind and not make a fuzz out of it so not they will still have the "hype" with them as the top Privacy coins for now.

Maybe in the future blockchain analysis companies will come up on a algo on how to break them. But for now, crypto enthusiast can only assumed that it's still reliable to used them for privacy purposes.

That's the main problem - we don't know what the full “de-anonymization” process looked like. We have a general picture, but no details - it's a protocol problem, some “social engineering”, other technical solutions not directly related to protocol problems..... Without this we can't understand where and what to fix.

[Hsd2024]

Thank you for sharing the news. It's interesting to see how law enforcement is adapting to track transactions in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Monero. This case highlights the challenges and risks associated with the anonymity these coins provide. It also raises questions about the balance between privacy and regulation in the crypto space. The implications for future regulations, especially following the EU's AMLR, will be worth monitoring as authorities continue to address crypto-related crimes.

[ZAINmalik75]

And you deny the possibility of a 0-day vulnerability in the protocol ? Frankly, I am 99% sure that this disclosure is a complex of measures and mistakes of the criminal himself, but.... It is impossible not to admit that there may be problems in Monero's protocol that are not yet known to the general public. And reassuring ourselves that everything is “all nice and safe” will just exacerbate the problem....

What does 0-day vulnerability mean here? I know Monero is hard to track but using anonymous tools is not enough to keep us anonymous we need to follow the rules like the use of a good web browser the proxies and other requirements of the job.

They found their employees on internet so they somehow contacted them to explain them how this work and how they will make money without following the safety guidelines they can't be saved even if they use Monero.

[Stompix]

It is very likely they used a honeypot mixer. The mixer then informed the government and they were caught.

There is no point in using a mixer for monero!

They got tracked by using a platform to buy stuff with fake credit cards, they got investigated for those, and only then did the Japanese police manage to find the trace of Monero, so rather than decyphering the monero trace they just found the trace from fiat to monero.

[DrBeer]

It is very likely they used a honeypot mixer. The mixer then informed the government and they were caught.

There is no point in using a mixer for monero!

They got tracked by using a platform to buy stuff with fake credit cards, they got investigated for those, and only then did the Japanese police manage to find the trace of Monero, so rather than decyphering the monero trace they just found the trace from fiat to monero.

+
Well, if that's the case, then we don't have to worry about the Monero, just recognize the indiscretion of the perpetrator. Is there somewhere more information about this story and the investigation itself? Honestly, I haven't found it, or I haven't looked hard enough. 

[Faisal2202]

There is speculation that the result of this de-anonymization was the result of a set of events:
- purposeful actions of certain structures
- mistakes of the perpetrator himself, who was not attentive enough to the issue of moving/exchanging crypto funds

I don't know why it looks like I am supporting him, hahaha as I was going to say he should be more attentive haha. Monero is a good privacy tool (calling it tool won't be wrong) only the perpetrator did something wrong that he got caught although Japan do have some advance technologies and I wonder if they really caught him by tracking XMR tx.

Although that's not possible but if you say so then that's relief too haha even though I don't use XMR. So, its proved that Monero is safe.

[Stompix]

~

Well, if that's the case, then we don't have to worry about the Monero, just recognize the indiscretion of the perpetrator. Is there somewhere more information about this story and the investigation itself?

It's in the article itself, the chain of events didn't start with monero, it started with credit card fraud then they had a suspect and only by the time they had him identified in custody and with access to his dealings did they get information about his cryptocurrency:

Kobayashi emerged as a suspect from communication apps with the perpetrators, and after analyzing the flow of virtual currency, it was determined that there was a strong possibility that he was involved in the series of crimes.

Once they get access to your computer and to your wallet monero obfuscation is useless.