IRS Poses as Bitcoin Trader ‘Mr Coins’ in $180,000 Sting

From decrypt.co

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS ) posed as a Bitcoin trader to expose an alleged dark web drug dealer, tricking him into sending over $180,000 in cash to an account in the name of “Mr Coins” on peer-to-peer exchange LocalCryptos.com. The sting operation is the latest instance of the U.S. tax collection agency going undercover to expose criminals—but a rare case of the IRS posing as a trader, according to Forbes. The pseudo-anonymous nature of the crypto industry has become increasingly attractive to money launderers and dark web drug dealers, with crypto forensics company Chainalysis estimating that some $5 ... (full story)