The Civil Police of Santa Catarina recovered over $1.7 million from self-custody wallets during Operation ClickFix, the largest seizure of this kind in Brazil. Police also froze nearly $18.5 million in bank accounts linked to a group that used social engineering to infect devices.
Brazilian police seized over $1.7 million in crypto from self-custody wallets, the largest seizure of its kind in Brazil. The Civil Police of Santa Catarina took the funds during Operation ClickFix, which targeted a criminal group.
How the ClickFix group infected devices
The group used social engineering to trick users into installing malicious programs that supposedly corrected false browser errors. Victims were pushed to enter malicious code into the OS terminal, which gave the group full control of the affected devices.
The malware infected sensitive institutions, including Brazilian agencies, the police force and judicial systems. Several companies in the Brazilian market supply chain were also affected.
Raids on September 10 freeze $18.5 million
Police executed the operation on September 10 with 17 search-and-seizure orders and two arrest orders against the group's heads. The action seized over a million in urban properties and froze nearly $18.5 million in bank accounts linked to the group.
Detective Eduardo Graebin was responsible for seizing the crypto assets. He called the result, according to Bitcoin News, "the largest seizure of this nature ever recorded among the Civil Police of Brazil."
Four seed phrases lead to 13 transfers
Graebin said police located four seed phrases during the operation. Police had to import and analyze the wallets to identify the assets in each one, then transfer the funds to the police's institutional account on Foxbit.
In partnership with Chainalysis, which provided tools to help identify the assets, police moved over $1.7 million in crypto in 13 operations and placed it under police custody.
Source: Bitcoin News
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