And finally… unmasked

ISIS allegedly ran a coronavirus personal protective equipment (PPE) scam, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). 

And finally... unmasked

The DOJ has revealed that it seized hundreds of bitcoin and ethereum accounts, millions of dollars, and four websites from known Islamic extremist groups that were using the accounts and funds to support terrorist operations.

Prosecutors have said that the forfeited crypto assets from the groups, which include ISIS, the al-Qassam Brigades, and al Qaeda, represent “the government’s largest-ever seizure of cryptocurrency in the terrorism context.”



The cryptocurrency accounts alone total more than $1 million according to Chainalysis, a blockchain-focused firm whose tools were used in the investigation.

Court documents have revealed how an ISIS agent allegedly ran a scam website for PPE known as FaceMaskCenter.com.

The website claimed to offer FDA-approved N95 face masks, as well as Tyvek suits, gloves, goggles, and thermometers, arsTechnica reports.

It’s not entirely clear to what degree FaceMaskCenter was an outright scam, or whether it just sold substandard PPE. The civil complaint against FaceMaskCenter.com states the masks offered on the site, for instance, were produced by a Turkish company and did not meet FDA standards, as advertised.

When a US customer contacted FaceMaskCenter seeking to buy masks and other PPE, the DOJ says a Syrian national based in Turkey responded with an offer of up to 100,000 masks, a number the complaint describes as unrealistic given the scarcity of masks during the pandemic.

It’s unclear whether any masks were actually delivered.

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