World’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has helped local police in São Paulo, Brazil, to dismantle a criminal gang that was stealing smartphones and using them to commit fraud.
According to Binance officials, the local police had come up with “Operation Sleipnir” to target a group that stole victims’ phones and accessed their banking apps, personal information, and cryptocurrency accounts. Consequently, the victims lost their money and digital assets.
To catch this gang, police turned to Binance officials, who then used some special tools to track stolen money through blockchain and helped the police find the criminals.
As per the reports, on March 19, São Paulo police found the locations of stolen items in the city. The police then seized assets worth about 260,000 Brazilian reals, including cash, cryptocurrencies, stolen smartphones, jewelry, and documents.
Lister Caldas Braga Filho, a prosecutor, praised Binance’s team in Brazil for their major help. He further highlighted that the teamwork between the government and private companies is key to fighting the crimes that involve new technologies like blockchain.
Renato Bastos, who leads Binance’s special investigations in the Americas, has also called this operation as a big success for both the firm and the government.
This operation is part of a trend where crimes involving cryptocurrencies are decreasing. A report by Chainalysis says the percentage of cryptocurrency accounts linked to illegal activities dropped from 0.61% in 2023 to 0.14% in 2024.
Binance is working hard to make its platform safer and is teaming up with police worldwide. In 2024, Binance helped with over 65,000 police requests, trained more than 1,300 investigators from 80 countries, protected 2.8 million users from scams, and recovered $88 million in stolen assets.
Guilherme Nazar, Binance’s Vice President for Latin America, said that, “The company is dedicated to making the cryptocurrency industry safe and trustworthy for the long term.” He also emphasized that Binance is working hard to find and stop criminals in the digital asset world.
Beyond this operation, Binance is also helping in Brazil by training police and prosecutors. They’ve held sessions with the Brazilian Federal Police and prosecutors in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to strengthen their skills in investigating cybercrime.
Also Read: A Binance user sent an NFT by mistake and someone sold it
