Recent investigations by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have uncovered that Blue Whale Tech Inc., operating under the brand Cratos (cratos.net), has been implicated in facilitating money laundering activities for a Georgian cybercrime organization associated with the A.K. Group.
- Illicit Transaction Volume: Internal documents reveal that Cratos processed nearly $350,000 in cryptocurrency transactions from at least 40 victims linked to the Georgian cybercrime call center operation. These transactions were part of a broader scheme involving fraudulent investment platforms managed by the cybercrime network.
- Questionable Operational Practices: Despite positioning itself as a crypto exchange platform for individual users, Cratos has been associated with business clients involved in illicit activities. When approached for clarification, Cratos responded briefly and subsequently disabled its email account, raising concerns about its transparency and operational integrity.
- Money Laundering via Blue Whale Tech: Bank transfer records indicate that Blue Whale Tech received over £386,000 and €206,000 from more than 20 victims across the U.K., Spain, and Ireland within a seven-month period ending in April of last year. Victims were misled into signing Cratos-branded declaration forms, falsely confirming that their fiat transfers would be converted to Bitcoin on the Cratos platform.
Implications and Ongoing Concerns
The involvement of Cratos, a FinTRAC-registered Canadian Money Services Business (MSB), in these illicit activities highlights the challenges regulators and law enforcement agencies face in combating transnational cybercrime networks.The exploitation of legitimate financial platforms for money laundering and fraudulent schemes underscores the need for enhanced oversight and stricter compliance measures within the cryptocurrency industry.