Winnipeg police get provincial funding to beef blockchain forensics unit

The Winnipeg police service received money from the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund to provide training through the Cryptocurrency Tracing Certified Examiner course.

Police in Winnipeg, the capital of the Canadian province of Manitoba, will be better prepared to deal with the use of cryptocurrency in cybercrime, thanks to $100,000 Canadian Dollars (CAD) in funding provided by the provincial government.

Provincial Justice Minister Kevin Goertzen, on Aug. 3, said the money from the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund will be used to put five additional members of the police service through a Cryptocurrency

Tracing Certified Examiner training program, as well as to purchase specialized software to trace cybercrime activities such as CipherTrace and Blockchain Forensics.

According to the Manitoba government, cybercrimes have increased by more than 370% between 2016 and 2020. Sgt. Trevor Thompson of the Winnipeg police financial crime unit said in a statement:

“As cryptocurrencies have risen in popularity and become more widely available, criminal actors have migrated into this space and are primarily using cryptocurrencies as the medium to obtain funds from their victims. To combat the rise in the use of cryptocurrencies in criminal enterprises, police must adapt.”

Thompson said that his office receives seven or eight reports of cybercrime daily, mostly related to fraudulent investment schemes that exploit the victim’s lack of understanding of crypto.

Many times the criminal organizations involved are located outside Canada. Anonymity is also an issue in crypto-related crimes, he added.

Thompson told a news conference that most frauds in Winnipeg and throughout Canada now use crypto in “traditional” romance and online employment scams, leading to “life-altering financial losses and emotional distress."

The Manitoba Securities Commission is also active in the fight against crypto-related cybercrime and has warned the public of various criminal schemes.

The Manitoba Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund has distributed more than $20 million CAD since its creation in 2009. - cointelegraph

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