A frightening Chinese social media post on January 16, 2024, accused the Myanmar Alliance Army of pressuring telecoms scammers to pay enormous crypto amounts. A concerned blogger published a crypto address accused of forced transactions in the expose. After the post went viral, SlowMist has conducted a detailed analysis of the publicly disclosed cryptocurrency address of this Myanmar Security Scandal, focusing on its transaction patterns, the risk associated with the sources of its funds, and activities linked to associated addresses.
Chinese Blogger Exposes Myanmar Security Scandal, SlowMist Analyzes
The Qingshuihe Baisheng Hotel in Myanmar held Chinese citizens. Apparently, they had to pay for security or face unclear penalties. This security measure cost 500,000 to over 300,000 with the Myanmar Alliance Army supposedly transporting Wabang Nandeng. As this situation worsened, experts studied TKFsCN’s transaction patterns and hazards.
The study focused on TKFsCN address transaction records. USDT stablecoin transactions with non-rounded amounts like 71,417 or 42,857 indicated a settlement unit other than US dollars reached this address. Further examination unveiled that these transactions seemed to be settled at an exchange rate of 1 USD to 7–7.2 RMB. Clusters of transactions happen in amounts like 500,000 to 600,000 RMB, 1 million RMB, and even 1.5 million RMB.
After filtering transactions under 100 USDT, the TKFsCN address found 307 USDT inbound transactions. RMB to USD conversions comprised 62.86% of transactions or 45.29% of the total amount. Over 50% of the address’s transactions were in RMB, and several were worth 500,000 RMB. Evidence suggests the USDT payer was Chinese.
TKFsCN Risk Analysis Exposes Criminal Ties in High-Risk Crypto Transactions
Data showed 182 direct counterparties deposited USDT to TKFsCN between October 22, 2023, and January 2, 2024. Most importantly, 117 of these sites had two consecutive minor and big transactions. Transaction testing indicates that 62.29% of counterparties were likely conducting their first TKFsCN transaction. This implies they are not the address’s regular merchants.
An extensive risk assessment of TKFsCN funds identified a strong link between its counterparties and criminal market operations, online gambling, dishonesty, illicit money transfers, and high-risk payments. Out of 182 direct counterparties, 42% provided TKFsCN $33,523,148 USD in USDT for high-risk transactions. Seven high-risk addresses were related to criminal cases, including two money laundering cases, one fraud, one online gambling, and one telecommunications fraud case. As per SlowMist, the suspects were found in northern Myanmar or Cambodia, linking them to Southeast Asian crime.
