The FBI has disrupted a Hamas online fundraising and recruitment network, seizing more than £560,000 worth of cryptocurrency and taking control of servers and domains used by the terror group.
The agency confirmed on Tuesday that it had intercepted any further donations and collected the personal details of thousands of people around the world who contacted or tried to contact Hamas online in an effort to transfer funds through cryptocurrency, which the group used to finance its terrorist activity.
US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said: “A message to Hamas: We will stop your fundraising for terror.”
Brett Leatherman, an FBI assistant director in charge of the bureau’s cyber division, said it would “continue to use its authorities to intercept illicit funds and prevent terrorist organisations from exploiting digital networks to finance their operations”.
He added that Hamas is dependent on cryptocurrency to “solicit funds from donors around the world and move that money outside the formal financial system”.
Such seizures deprive Hamas of resources it relies on to recruit and radicalise supporters online and to finance attacks like those of October 7, explained Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg
According to the FBI, Hamas began virtual currency fundraising in 2019 through its Al Qassam Brigades and solicited donations on its Telegram channels.
Hamas officials bragged that the digital currency would be untraceable, and its website offered instructions on how to make anonymous donations.
In 2019, Hamas was using Bitcoin in 2019, but stopped accepting it in 2023 due to donor security concerns.
This new investigation showed that digital fundraising resumed two years later, this time focusing on rotating wallet addresses and the Tether currency.
As alleged in court documents, an encrypted group chat in associated with Hamas was directing supporters to a fundraising website and provided donors with a rotating set of donation addresses.
The FBI vowed to continue to intercept illicit funds and to prevent terrorist organisations from exploiting digital networks for their own operations.
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