Hamas may need to start passing around a collection plate – and perhaps invest in some carrier pigeons – because the Justice Department announced Tuesday that the FBI seized more than $560,000 in cryptocurrency destined for the terrorist organization while also taking control of domains and servers used for fundraising, communications and recruiting supporters.
According to a report in Just the News, court documents show that a group chat claiming ties to Hamas directed supporters to a fundraising website and supplied a rotating list of cryptocurrency addresses for donations. Investigators traced the money and seized roughly $560,000 intended for Hamas’ military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades.
The operation also gave investigators information on thousands of people who contacted Hamas online seeking to donate or attempting to donate – probably not the kind of mailing list anyone wants the FBI holding.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro summed up the problem for Hamas rather succinctly: their networks aren’t secure and their cryptocurrency isn’t untouchable.
So Hamas now has a few new challenges: finding another way to communicate, another way to recruit – and another digital couch to search for spare change.
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