Huione Group has been linked to cyber fraud, but was in a position to get a few of its crypto apps onto Apple and Google marketplaces. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
FIn recent months, Apple and Google’s app stores have hosted apps developed by Huione Group, a Cambodia-based company that was accused on Tuesday of running the biggest dark web market ever.
According to crypto crime trackers Elliptic and Chainalysis, Huione Group is behind Huione Guarantee, a Telegram-based marketplace for money laundering services and other tools to help fraudsters. Elliptical said Up to $24 billion in sales were processed through the platform on Tuesday, making it the “largest illegal online marketplace of all time.” It is larger than more notorious drug markets like Silk Road and Hydra; With sales of $5 billion, the latter is the second-best performing illegal bazaar, Elliptic wrote.
In addition to the guarantee marketplace, Huione Group also operates various other services, including a payment app, a crypto exchange and a mobile messaging service. It is unclear whether any of them were used to commit fraud. As noted by Chain evaluationAdditionally, Huione Group has offered quite a few legitimate products, from insurance to luxury travel.
“I think Google and Apple should consider whether Huione Group is a suitable company to distribute apps through their platforms,” said Elliptic CEO Tom Robinson Forbes.
When asked for comment, Google removed all apps, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. On Wednesday, Apple closed the crypto exchange and declined to comment. Huione Group’s other apps remain listed within the App Store on the time of publication.
Neither Telegram nor Huione Group had responded to requests for comment on the time of publication.
According to Elliptic and Chainalysis, the Guarantee marketplace consists of an enormous network of hundreds of Telegram channels, each operated by a distinct merchant, lots of which supply fraudulent products. “Our researchers have identified thousands of vendors on the platform that offer money laundering services, stolen personal information, technology and other things necessary to carry out online fraud on an industrial scale,” Elliptic wrote in its report on Tuesday.
Huione Guarantee acts as a form of guarantor or trustee and charges a fee for every transaction. It claims to be neutral and has written in disclaimers on Chinese-language web sites that it doesn’t know what its users are selling.
According to a study by Elliptic, Huione Guarantee users offer a big selection of products to support fraud, particularly pig slaughter, by which victims are tricked into investing in a fake crypto platform that guarantees high returns but never pays off. Earlier reports said a seller was found offering electric restraints for use on employees of fraud centers, lots of whom are trafficked into the country.
“The market appears to be an important factor in transnational organized crime groups perpetrating fraud against victims worldwide,” Elliptic added.
