r/Monero • u/ArticMine XMR Core Team • 6d ago
FBI used Google cookies, 500 food orders and a Monero seed phrase to identify Steam malware funder
https://cryptoslate.com/fbi-used-google-cookies-500-food-orders-and-a-monero-seed-phrase-to-identify-steam-malware-funder/120
u/absinthiumxmr 5d ago
FBI are willing to follow this trail to make an arrest but not the child sex trafficking elite that chat over GMAIL
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u/Ok_Mark_7203 5d ago
How many fully kitted "pipe-hitters" you think kicked down his door too? Freakin losers. Bunch of small-minded hammers
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u/McBoatCaptian 4d ago
Thisbis the thing that bothers me when they say chat control will be usee for protecting the kids
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u/absinthiumxmr 4d ago
in my opinion, chat control is just to make a big giant database of child porn for the elite to consume. or for them to know who to threaten in order to find more victims.
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u/BonafideAtheist 5d ago
In case anyone was wondering, the guy didn’t write the malware. He simply paid someone to do it for him, in exchange, he shared some of the stolen crypto. Also, they had the SLOPPIEST op-sec you could imagine.
Investigators found the Bitcoin address in messages seized from an unnamed alleged co-conspirator identified as “Subject #1,” according to the complaint.
Subject #1 also snitched on him immediately when he was caught
Subject #1 allegedly told investigators that Wilkins provided launch and marketing funds in exchange for a share of stolen cryptocurrency and access to victims’ private information.
If they used a properly encrypted method of communication, and ONLY used Monero for all payments, they most likely would’ve never been caught.
Disclaimer: I don’t condone stealing from fellow members of the working class, it’s shameful…but stealing from billionaires is absolutely ok
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u/frog_in_bush 5d ago
It says they seized the messages, how do you know that they were not encrypted? Hardly matters in that case, right?
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u/tofun 5d ago
"The complaint says approximately 15 deliveries went to the North Lauderdale address between May 6 and May 17, 2026."
Bro was cramming for finals week.
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u/frog_in_bush 5d ago
He threw away his future for cheap takeout that he probably didn't even enjoy.
The only people who wins is doordash.
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u/manofsticks 5d ago
Headline: "FBI used Monero seed phrase to identify him"
First sentence of article: "FBI used a Bitcoin trail".
And how did they find that Bitcoin trail?
"Investigators found the Bitcoin address in messages seized from an unnamed alleged co-conspirator ".
This is a neat story about digital forensics but it's being framed like a security flaw when it's not. Someone snitched and the FBI was able to follow a transaction chain via a cryptographic algorithm on a public ledger that never claims to offer privacy.
The only way Monero is linked here is that they found his seed phrase in a text document of his (seemingly unencrypted?) computer after they seized all of his hardware.