Bitcoin child porn ring SMASHED by international crime team

Since being thrown behind bars last year for distributing more than a million sickening images, 23-year-old Jong Woo Son’s bitcoin transactions have led agents to make dozens of arrests around the world.So far, officers have swooped on 337 addresses in 38 countries including the UK, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Germany and Brazil, arresting paedophiles who signed up to the South Korean’s depraved catalogue of videos and images. Authorities also revealed they had rescued at least 23 victims of sexual abuse in the US, UK and Spain as a result of the investigations.

Explaining the scale of the operation, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia – Jessie Liu – said the case had uncovered “one of the worst forms of human evil imaginable”.

However, she also stressed the 18-month imprisonment of Jong Woo Son in South Korea and the dozens of resulting global arrests had made a huge dent in the war against child pornography.

“Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by US and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” she added.

Son’s stomach-turning site – called ‘Welcome to Video’ – held more than 250,000 videos. Almost half, says the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, were previously unknown to authorities.

The site operated on the controversial and secret Tor network, and allowed subscribers to sign-up for free with a user name and password.

However, Son had set up a sinister ‘VIP account’ where users could download unlimited videos for a portion of bitcoin worth around $350.

The site operated out of Son’s bedroom before he was indicted for child pornography and money laundering in August 2018.

Since then, US officials have disclosed information on almost 40 users of the site.

Detectives also say two users recently took their own lives before warrants were issued for their arrest.

Prosecutors around the world – including the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) – are still attempting to establish how much bitcoin was laundered during the existence of ‘Welcome to Video’, but the forensic teams continue to unmask more users as they unpick various cryptocurrency accounts held on Son’s server.

Don Fort, head of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, said the operation proved that the world’s crime gangs could not operate in secret – even by using cryptocurrency.

“Our agency’s ability to analyse the blockchain and de-anonymize bitcoin transactions allowed for the identification of hundreds of predators around the world,” he said.

“The scale of this crime is eye-popping and sickening.”