Фото: Christian Wiediger / Unsplash.com
Belarusian and Russian law enforcement agencies have shut down Continental Service, a Telegram platform that provided services to cybercriminals and other malicious actors.
“The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus, together with the Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Cybercrime and Russian law enforcement agencies, has established facts of criminal activity carried out online by members of Continental Service. A number of individuals who maintained the internet service have been identified, and some have been detained. Operational and investigative activities are continuing,” TASS quoted a law enforcement representative as saying.
According to the representative, investigators obtained Telegram user IDs, phone numbers, banking details, virtual wallet information and IP addresses. Members of Continental Service operated from Moscow, where they rented an office near Belorussky railway station. After attracting the attention of Russian law enforcement agencies, they attempted to flee to Belarus. However, they were detained in Belarus.
Belarus’s Interior Ministry and other law enforcement agencies have not yet reported the operation.
Continental Service had been operating since 2021. The platform was used to recruit people for criminal activities, carry out fraud, illegally collect personal information, sell databases for mass telephone calls, offer personal data lookup services, sell bank cards and provide money laundering schemes.
On October 27, it became known that the Continental Service platform on the dark web had been shut down. That morning, a post attributed to law enforcement agencies was published in its channel.