Japan – Crypto Related Money Laundering Cases Rise 10 Fold In 2018

Japan’s National Police Agency has revealed an exponential increase in the money laundering cases related to cryptocurrencies. According to the agency, the country has recorded 7000 cases in 2018 alone. Between April and December 2017, as much as 669 cases related to cryptocurrency crimes were filed.

In 2018, the sudden increase in crime figures increased, as the Japanese officials made it legal for cryptocurrency exchanges to publish any fraudulent activity that could be associated to unlawful cash. Due to the ambiguous nature of crypto currenciesns, they have gained enormous prominence among criminals, particularly in the dark web for cyber extorting and criminal activities.

The Japanese police outlined that among 7,096 fraudulent activity, some customers with multiple names and birth dates provided the same picture of their identity cards, while others surfaced to sign into their accounts from abroad, despite having Japanese addresses. In addition, Japan recorded 417,465 cases last year, compared with only 17,422 reports in in the preceding year, adding both financial dealings linked to money laundering and other manipulative cases.

Of the total, there were 346,014 cases related to financial firms, while 15,114 cases were related to credit card firms.

Japanese authorities guaranteed that it is overhauling its strategy to pin point crimes by providing expert training in the field of data analytics. The authorities are also studying the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology to quickly identify illegal trades by studying the crime pattern.

Japan became one of crypto friendly countries in the world after China implemented a blanket ban on all cryptocurrency trading and mining related activities.

However, the tiny island also encountered a few major losses in the sector. Back in 2014, Mt. Gox, one of the first of cryptocurrency exchanges established, closed its doors, putting millions of customer funds at risk. The reimbursement system is still underway and contentious because of the trusty’s questionable practices.

Once again in 2018, the industry was shattered by Coincheck’s attack, which led to the robbery of cryptocurrencies worth $530 million. The assault created a still in the in the in the in the in the in the in the the the sector as the regulator of Japan tightened the noose of crypto exchanges in order to close any business or technological gap.

Coincheck obtained a fully operational license from the Japanese regulator in January this year and restarted full – fledged trading platform service.