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⚡️🇺🇸👮‍♂️ NEW - IntelBroker, a hacker specializing in Monero, was arrested after accepting Bitcoin from the FBI.

Kai West, a 20-year-old cybersecurity student from the UK, has been charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions, wire fraud and the sale of sensitive personal and business data.

Operating under the alias "IntelBroker", West allegedly led a hacker collective known as CyberN\ and posted offers to sell stolen data on dark web forums at least 158 times between 2023 and 2025.

West ONLY accepted Monero for confidentiality reasons.

But in January 2023, an undercover FBI agent persuaded him to accept a $250 payment in Bitcoin in exchange for access credentials.

And it was this simple payment in BTC that led to his downfall…

The Bitcoin wallet provided by West had been fed by another wallet, itself fed by a Ramp account, a KYC platform that offers transactions between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Investigators then quickly traced it back to Kai West, who was arrested by law enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Justice stated that West's activities had caused an estimated $25 million in damages.

If convicted, West faces decades in prison.

caleb 6mo ago

lol what an idiot if true.

Would be simple to swap from a fresh wallet address to lightning or even to monero directly - then no info would be learned.

Hard to believe a pro hacker wouldn’t do better

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Discussion

MoneRogue 6mo ago

Not to mention accepting crypto from a KYC wallet.

caleb 6mo ago

Yeah doesn’t add up that a hacker type wouldn’t only accept BTC a payment to a fresh address on a self custody node then immediately leave the chain.

It’s incompetent and if he weren’t 20 I’d bet it wasn’t real / a frame job

Ape Mithrandir 6mo ago

Probably a lot of parallel construction surveillance went into this case that the FBI can't reveal.