Brazil police seize $1.7m in crypto from self-custody wallets
Santa Catarina's Civil Police recovered more than $1.7m in crypto from self-custody wallets during Operation ClickFix, which targeted a group accused of using social engineering to spread malware.
Why it matters: The case shows Brazilian police moving directly against self-custody wallets, a first of its size in the country, as authorities step up enforcement against crypto-linked crime.
Key points
- Police seized over $1.7m in crypto from self-custody wallets in 13 operations, moving funds to an institutional account on Foxbit.
- Four seed phrases were found during raids and analysed with tools from Chainalysis.
Brazilian police have seized more than $1.7m in crypto from self-custody wallets in what the Civil Police of Santa Catarina calls the largest seizure of this kind in the country. The force set out the results of Operation ClickFix on Wednesday, saying the funds were moved into state custody.
The operation targeted a group accused of using social engineering to trick users into installing malicious programmes, presented as fixes for false browser errors, that gave the attackers control of victims' devices.
Police also seized urban properties worth over a million dollars and froze nearly $18.5m in bank accounts linked to the group.
Detective Eduardo Graebin, of the Cybercrime Repression Police Station, said four seed phrases were found during the raids. The wallets had to be imported and analysed to identify their assets, and the crypto was moved in 13 operations to a Santa Catarina Civil Police account on Foxbit, with Chainalysis providing identification tools. Graebin said the case showed how technical expertise and specialist tools can decide whether assets linked to criminal activity are located or lost.
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