Mantle

Mantle APAC Hackathon Award-winning Projects Announced, Web3 Innovation Power Shines Bright

ChainCatcher news, the Mantle APAC Hackathon co-hosted by Mantle, OpenBuild, and HackQuest has successfully concluded, and the winning projects in each track have been officially announced.This hackathon attracted over 360 developers, who submitted more than 170 innovative projects. In the end, 9 projects stood out, winning substantial prizes and resource support. High-quality projects that did not win will also receive ongoing attention and support from Mantle. All participants received recognition and guidance from a top-tier jury including Mantle DevRel, Gumi Cryptos, Hemera, NovaSeed & Novabits, Hashkey Capital, GMA, Fenbushi Capital, YGG, OKX Ventures, CoinSpire, SNZ Capital, and others.The final evaluation results of this hackathon are as follows:DeFi Track:1st Place: ellipse2nd Place: FLIP NFT3rd Place: Payroll ProtocolInfra & AI Track:1st Place: Mantle Contract Builder2nd Place: Web3Insights3rd Place: StealthPassGaming Track:1st Place: Vortis2nd Place: Truman AI Live3rd Place: Dunk VerseThe above winning projects will not only receive a total prize pool of $30,000 but will also be eligible for project funding of up to 20,000 MNT. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to receive support from the $200 million ecosystem fund from the Mantle Eco Fund, as well as AWS Activate Credits, and will directly enter the interview phase of the HackQuest X Mantle global accelerator.

Hong Kong police dismantled a scam group that used deepfake technology to lure others into investing in virtual currency, with an involved amount of approximately 34 million yuan

ChainCatcher news, according to Phoenix News, the Hong Kong police recently dismantled a scam group that used deepfake technology to lure others into investing in virtual currencies through social media platforms, involving approximately 34 million HKD.The Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau arrested 31 individuals, aged between 20 and 34, some of whom claimed to be students and unemployed, based on intelligence last week in two industrial buildings in Kowloon Bay, related to the same scam group, and seized their pre-written "scripts." The group would recruit young people looking to "make quick money," training them to create accounts on dating platforms with fake identities, pretending to have good looks and a luxurious lifestyle, and getting to know individuals from overseas, including Taiwan and East Asia, chatting according to the "script." After understanding the other party's background, they would cater to their interests and develop into online lovers, even using deepfake technology for video calls, subsequently luring the other party to invest in virtual currencies, claiming substantial returns, and asking them to deposit into fake platforms. Once the group received the virtual currency, they would immediately transfer it away and cut off contact with the victims.Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau Acting Chief Superintendent Kong Hing-fun stated: "They rented two scam centers located next to each other in Kowloon Bay to disperse risks and increase confidentiality. Most importantly, we noticed that these two scam centers operated in two shifts, aiming to continuously attract more victims day and night. Never think that participating in some tasks of a criminal group is just a minor issue; even if you are only assigned to meet victims online without direct contact with virtual currency investment work, it is still illegal."The police stated that this scam group has been operating for at least a year, with criminal profits exceeding 34 million HKD. The mastermind of the scam group, the center's head, and key members, a total of five individuals, have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering, and were brought to the Eastern Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Financial Times: UK law enforcement dismantles a billion-dollar cryptocurrency money laundering network, seizing cash and cryptocurrencies totaling £20 million

ChainCatcher news, according to the Financial Times, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has announced the successful dismantling of a large-scale cryptocurrency money laundering network spanning London, Moscow, and Dubai. The case primarily involves two companies: Smart and TGR, which acted as financial intermediaries, providing cross-border money transfer services for cash-rich criminals and sanctioned individuals worldwide through cryptocurrency.The investigation revealed that this network provided services to criminal organizations, ransomware gangs, and Russian espionage activities, including the Kinahan drug trafficking group, from the end of 2022 to the summer of 2023. Its operation involved couriers collecting cash in the UK and elsewhere, exchanging it for cryptocurrency primarily in USDT, and then laundering the money through a network of companies, providing equivalent funds in other countries.Ekaterina Zhdanova, the 38-year-old owner of Smart, a resident of Moscow, has been accused of transferring over $100 million to an unnamed sanctioned oligarch in the UAE, and is currently under U.S. sanctions and detained in France. The money laundering network collected cash at 55 different locations across England, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands in just four months, serving at least 22 criminal groups.NCA's action director Rob Jones stated that this is the agency's most significant anti-money laundering operation to date. Law enforcement has arrested 84 individuals and seized a total of £20 million in cash and cryptocurrency. The U.S. Treasury has imposed economic sanctions on five individuals and several companies involved. The operation was assisted by the U.S. FBI, DEA, as well as police forces from France and Ireland.
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