Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES Welcome to Video
The investigation and takedown concerned the Welcome to Video dark web market.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“the Welcome to Video investigation”
Incident
incident:welcome_to_video_investigation_and_takedown
International investigation that used cryptocurrency tracing, exchange subpoenas, server evidence, and coordinated arrests against Welcome to Video users and its administrator.
International investigation that used cryptocurrency tracing, exchange subpoenas, server evidence, and coordinated arrests against Welcome to Video users and its administrator.
“the IRS criminal investigators decided it was time to head to South Korea and arrest the site admin”
“In total, 337 people were arrested around the world, and twenty-three kids were rescued.”
| Direction | Predicate | Other entity | Origin | EP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| outgoing | INVOLVES | Welcome to Video | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | Child Sexual Abuse Material | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | National Crime Agency | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | Reactor | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | Homeland Security Investigations | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | Korean National Police Agency | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | National Center for Missing and Exploited Children | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | phishing | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | cryptocurrency exchange | Explicit | 131 |
| outgoing | INVOLVES | BTCE | Explicit | 131 |
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES Welcome to Video
The investigation and takedown concerned the Welcome to Video dark web market.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“the Welcome to Video investigation”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES Child Sexual Abuse Material
The incident involved a market distributing child sexual abuse material.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“a financial investigation to find and dismantle a child abuse network”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES National Crime Agency
The NCA was the first agency Andy knew to have investigated Welcome to Video.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“The first agency that I’m aware of that was looking at Welcome to Video was the NCA”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES Reactor
Reactor was used during the investigation to trace payments and identify users and administrators.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Jack Rhysider EP 131 Details
“using the Chainalysis Reactor tool, they were trying to get information on the users of the site”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES Homeland Security Investigations
HSI partnered with the IRS because the IRS investigators lacked the manpower for the large investigation.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“IRS had actually partnered with Homeland Security because they didn’t have the manpower to do this massive investigation”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES Korean National Police Agency
The KNPA cooperated in surveilling and arresting Son Jung-woo and seizing the server in South Korea.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“they needed the actual Korean police, the Korean National Police Agency, the KNPA, to actually carry out this arrest”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Investigators shared the seized material with NCMEC, which assessed the uniqueness and scale of the videos.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“When they share all of this stuff with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES phishing
A Welcome to Video user impersonated a moderator and phished other users' credentials to access their videos.
Explicit Confidence 99% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“He was actually just phishing people, essentially, on Welcome to Video, pretending to be a moderator”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES cryptocurrency exchange
The investigation relied on subpoenas to cryptocurrency exchanges for identifying information about wallets and users.
Explicit Confidence 95% · Andy Greenberg EP 131 Details
“get a law enforcement agency involved that would send subpoenas to them”
Welcome to Video investigation and takedown INVOLVES BTCE
Investigators used records from BTCE, which had been taken down by US authorities, to investigate the site's suspected moderator.
Explicit Confidence 98% · Jack Rhysider EP 131 Details
“they were able to find a similar e-mail address as a user of a popular Bitcoin exchange called BTCE”