India Police Investigation Connects Crypto Hacks And Hamas

An India police investigation connected crypto hacks and Hamas and revealed that reportedly Hamas is behind recent crypto wallet hacks as we are reading more in today’s latest cryptocurrency news.

An investigation by the police in Delhi, India, revealed there is a connection between crypto wallet hacks and Hamas. The investigation by the Delhi Police Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Ops division revealed that Hamas was behind a cryptocurrency wallet hack. The crypto theft was worth $536,000 by today’s prices.

The funds were sent through different private wallets before reaching al-Qassam Brigades which is Hamas’ military wing. First raised in 2019 by a Delhi businessman in the Paschim Vihar area, the victim lost access to his BTC wallet. The wallet’s details were uploaded on the Darknet. The India police investigation said in a report:

“The seized wallet belonged to Mohammad Naseer Ibrahim Abdulla. Another wallet, in which cryptocurrencies had been transferred, belonged to Ahmed QH Safi from Ramallah in Palestine.”

The Times of India reports that some of the stolen cryptos were transferred to a UK-based gambling site but also a child pornography site. However, this is not the first time Hamas used crypto to fund its activity. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the UK, US, and other governments which is why it turned to crypto markets to avoid international sanctions. This is especially true in times of renewed conflict with Israel and according to the senior Hamas official in June last year, the group witnessed a surge in BTC donations:

“There was definitely a spike [in Bitcoin donations]. Some of the money gets used for military purposes to defend the basic rights of the Palestinians.”

In 2019, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades were calling for BTC Donations online and the group boasted that these donations were untraceable and will be used for violent causes.

As recently reported, The upgrading of the unit into its own new department will also promote innovation in the crypto sector. India’s RBI created a dedicated department for fintech challenges that includes framing crypto regulation and central bank digital currency. The move by the Reserve Bank f India came shortly after the reprots about India’s framing of crypto regulations saying that while the bank is staffed with the needed departments to perform these tasks, it still lacks a fintech department or a division that can solve questions on efficiency and long-term commitment.