Russia raids 9 unregistered crypto exchanges over alleged money laundering

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, raided nine unregistered cryptocurrency exchanges in Moscow and arrested more than 20 employees over allegations they were involved in laundering funds for a Ukraine-based voice phishing ring, Cointelegraph reported. The FSB believes the exchanges converted money taken from Russian voice phishing victims into cryptocurrency and sent it to accounts on the Ukrainian side. Authorities said couriers aged 18 to 25 collected cash from victims and delivered it to the exchanges, where it was converted into crypto. Russia’s Interior Ministry has opened a criminal investigation on large-scale fraud charges, while the FSB said it is continuing to investigate the identities of victims and the possibility of recovering losses.