US Revenue Collector IRS Sends Four Cryptocrime Investigation Agents Abroad – Bitcoin News
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) plans to send investigators to four countries where they are expected to tackle the use of crypto and decentralized financial products in global financial and tax crimes. According to the tax collector’s spokesperson, the tax authorities will be able to determine the success of the pilot program by assessing the investigators’ “ability to cooperate” with global law enforcement agencies.
IRS to assist foreign law enforcement agencies
The United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is to send four agents specializing in cyber and cryptocrime to Australia, Colombia, Germany and Singapore, a Techcrunch report has said. According to the report, the deployment of the four agents is part of the revenue collection agency’s pilot program that will run between June and September 2023.
Carissa Cutrell, an IRS spokesperson, is quoted in the report as saying that the four agents’ mission is “to help combat the use of cryptocurrency, decentralized finance and blending services in international financial and tax crimes.” Cutrell also talked about the revenue service’s likely plans once the 120-day pilot program ends. She said:
Success [of the pilot program] will depend on attachés’ ability to work with and train our foreign law enforcement colleagues, and build leads for criminal investigations.
Meanwhile, Chris Janczewski, a former special agent in the IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit, is quoted in the same report as arguing that the US tax collector’s growing presence abroad would help facilitate international investigations. Over the past few years, agents from the IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit have helped bring to book the alleged criminal who ran the drug and hacking services marketplace Alphabay. The agents also played a role in taking down a marketplace for stolen social security numbers.
Despite the IRS-CI Cyber Crimes Unit’s expertise in tracking and removing cybercriminals, the US Internal Revenue Service has only had one investigator stationed abroad, in The Hague, Netherlands. But by sending the four agents, the US agency will realize even better benefits, quotes Guy Ficco, IRS executive director of global operations policy and support for IRS-CI.
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