In a huge crackdown on cyber criminals, Europol has brought down the Criminal Messaging Service MATRIX, which was being used by criminals to carry encrypted communications. The joint operation was carried out by French and Dutch authorities under the moniker PassionFlower. The application MATRIX was identified by the authorities back in the year 2021 while investigating the criminal accused of killing a Dutch journalist, Peter R. de Vries.
The police authorities found a mobile phone that the criminal used for making encrypted communications, which was then used to intercept the messages for a period of three months. The authorities were able to track more than 2.3 million messages in about 33 languages. These communications were related to serious crimes, including arms dealing, drug trafficking, money laundering, etc.
The MATRIX application had about 8000 users spread across the globe, and they paid somewhere between $1360 to $1700 in cryptocurrency to get their hands on a Google Pixel mobile handset with a six-month subscription to MATRIX service installed on it. As per Dutch officials, this communication service offered video calls and transaction tracking and enabled users to browse the Internet anonymously. The service was operated with high-end technology backends and was serviced from over 40 servers located mainly around France and Germany, which have now been shut down as part of the PassionFlower operation.
The operation seems to have made a dent in the criminal communication infrastructure. Several arrests have been made in connection to the application, including a 52-year-old Lithuanian national who is recognized as the manager and owner of the application. The action has also seized a huge pile of cash, including $152000 in cash, $525000 in crypto, and about 970 mobile handsets.
There have been continuous crackdowns by the authorities to keep a check on the criminal communication channels, including names like Sky ECC, Encrochat, Exlcu, etc., but the criminals keep coming up with non-conventional and customized applications to carry out their communication under the radar.
