Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance says it assisted UK cybercrime authorities in investigating a $51 million fraud. 

Binance Assists UK Cybercrime Unit

According to a statement published on Sept. 26 by Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim, Binance assisted the Cybercrime Unit of UK’s Metropolitan Police to help in the investigation of a massive phishing scheme. The case involved a Bulgarian suspect responsible for creating and selling phishing scripts that defrauded at least 53 different services. 

The report reveals that the suspect was recently extradited from Bulgaria to the UK, where he pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and received a sentencing of nine years in prison.

Binance says criminals were able to use the illegal scripts to obtain customer information from the affected services, culminating in a widespread phishing scheme, 

The operation affected roughly half a million victims, with most being targeted via e-mail, and resulted in fraud totaling about £41.6 million British Pounds.

Binance claims to regularly support legal authorities around the globe in an effort to ensure their community remains “SAFU,”

Binance has always prioritized security and we are always working to protect our customers from bad actors such as this individual. Staying true to that, we are constantly refining and advancing the technology that we use to keep our platform secure, which helps to ensure that we continue to set and maintain industry standards.

Binance has also created a Phishing Quiz to help users better recognize attempts at fraud and avoid common scam situations. The increased emphasis on security follows a high-profile hack of the exchange in May, which saw more than 7000 BTC stolen. 

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