How do hackers collect ransom money and not IMMEDIATELY get arrested?
In: Technology
Im not an expert in cybersecurity but here’s my 2 cents on it.
usually, the criminals demand ransom via cryptocurrencies. now that doesn’t mean that no one knows where the cryptocurrencies are going as:
* the transactions are visible to everyone since they’re a part of blockchain. But, it only mentions the amount of the money, transaction date and time, and the unique wallet addresses involved.
* at some point, the criminals will have to change their crypto into a more practical thing like dollars. it is at this point where they are very vulnerable.
[if you don’t know what a blockchain is, it’s basically just a pile of transaction records, that are NOT editable once made, they’re also public. anyone can see anyone else’s transaction as long as they know their wallet address]
To prevent getting caught, the criminals also use something called “mixing” (it is a feature in many crypto wallets) which means taking the crypto they got from the victim and creating multiple transactions so as to make it harder to trace it. Basically taking the money and sending random amounts of it to many other wallets and repeating this many times to make it harder for anyone to trace where the money actually went. The mixing service probably charges some money for this service.
So it’s not that they can’t be traced, it’s just almost impossible with so many layers and so many things to decode, not to mention the constantly evolving and new mechanisms. There might be some techniques that not everyone knows about, yet. Some people do get caught tho.
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