Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people are looking for protection latest technology equipment, such as Tyvek masks and suits.
So here come the crooks who try to get rich with false promises and products. But they are not the only ones.
According to the US Department of Justice, it seems that even ISIS is involved in the game.
In a series of complaints released this week, the Department of Justice uncovered and confiscated hundreds of bitcoin and ethereum accounts, millions of dollars and four websites from well-known Islamic extremist groups. The terrorists used these accounts and pages to extract money in a "legal" way, which went to support terrorist operations.
Prosecutors say the confiscated encrypted digital money went to ISIS, al-Qassam Brigades, and al Qaeda. The seizure, according to the ministry, represents "the largest seizure of cryptocurrencies by the government in the context of terrorism." The amount is more than $ 1 million, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain company whose research tools were used.
The documents published by the Ministry [PDF] describe in detail how an ISIS agent had access to personal protection equipment for COVID-19 from a website. The fundraiser was called FaceMaskCenter.com.
FaceMaskCenter.com claimed to have masks person FDA approved N95 as well as many other products including Tyvek suits, gloves, goggles and thermometers.
It is not entirely clear to what extent the FaceMaskCenter page was a mere scam or whether it actually sold what it claimed. However, there is a complaint against FaceMaskCenter.com stating that the masks on the website were made by a Turkish company and did not meet FDA standards, as the page reported.
When a customer from the US contacted FaceMaskCenter asking to buy masks and other products for hospitals, nursing homes and other services, the Ministry reports that a Syrian national based in Turkey and offered up to 100.000 masks. It is unclear if the masks were ever delivered.
FaceMaskCenter claimed to be run by "health professionals" and was founded in 1996, when the domain was actually registered in late February 2020, according to court documents.
In addition to this seizure of the specific PPE website, the Department says US intelligence agencies also broke businesses funding for al Qaeda and the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the militant wing of Hamas. Agents reportedly discovered a money-laundering operation allegedly run by a Turkish man named Mehmet Akti.
