Russia Cracks Down on Unregistered Crypto Exchanges in Moscow City

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has cracked down on nine unregistered crypto exchange services in Moscow City, detaining over 20 employees as part of an operation targeting channels allegedly used to move illicit funds abroad through cryptocurrency.

The FSB said the exchanges converted money stolen from Russian victims of phone scams into cryptocurrency and transferred it to accounts belonging to Ukrainian handlers. The operation was carried out jointly by the FSB and Russia's Interior Ministry, which launched a criminal investigation into large-scale fraud.

The FSB said young people from Russian regions were recruited to work at the exchanges despite having limited financial literacy, and some couriers aged 18 to 25 collected cash from victims and delivered it to the exchanges for conversion into cryptocurrency.