It was a steady week for cryptocurrencies. Not much has changed on the market during these few days.
Bitcoin (BTC) is still circulating at the same $6,500 price mark, while Ethereum (ETH) remains barely over the $200 price point.
The price fluctuations from earlier this month were not visible in the past week, and the market cap remains without substantial changes.
At press time, the total market capitalization is slightly over $209 billion.
Bitcoin's dominance over the crypto market remains at approximately the same level, or 53.7 percent.
In other news this week:
Call of Duty Players Suspected of Stealing $3.3M in Crypto
A group of Call of Duty players is accused of stealing over $3 million in various cryptocurrencies through hacking schemes, revealed the Chicago Sun-Times earlier this week.
The gamers, whose identities are not disclosed, were able to access crypto wallets through victims' phones.
In order to do this they were helped by an Illinois man, allegedly forced to cooperate, after the group threatened to "SWAT" him, a term referring to the act of falsely reporting a violent crime to the police, in order for a SWAT team to be sent to the victim's house.
The man later told the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation about the crimes and proclaimed himself as a victim that was forced to participate in the schemes.
According to the FBI affidavit, this individual met the group online while playing Call of Duty and was later given the names and phone numbers of the victims.
This allowed him to hack into the phones of over 100 people, enabling the group to access the victims' cryptocurrency wallets and steal coins.
More than $800,000 of the stolen $3.3 million were Reputation tokens, a cryptocurrency created by San Francisco tech company Augur.
Online Scammer Targets Dogecoins Using Darknet-Purchased Malware
Earlier this month, Moscow-based security firm Dr. Web reported that an online scammer has been targeting Dogecoin users with a wide range of Trojans, many of them accessible on the dark web.
The attacker, known as Investimer, Mmpower or Hyipbloc, targeted around 10,000 Doge users and succeeded to steal cryptocurrencies by creating replicas of Dogecoin mining pools, as well as fake giveaway websites and scam lotteries.
According to Dr. Web, Investimer was operating on another project as well, one that involved Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Presumably, the cybercriminal offered "rewards" to their victims if they install a malicious program and visit websites.
However, by visiting a website, a Trojan automatically starts downloading, infecting the victim's system.
The damage to the victims is estimated to be more than $23,000.
Club DJ Accused of Livestreaming Animal Cruelty on the Dark Web for Bitcoins
In a bizarre case which happened in Bangkok, Thailand, a female club DJ was accused of murdering kittens and then filming it for the dark web in return for Bitcoins, reports Bangkok Post.
According to Isaraporn Samutklalin, the woman who reported the case, the 30-year-old club DJ immediately upon fostering the one-month-old kitten killed it while streaming the crime for paid views on a darknet forum.
The accused, after returning the cat's corpse, claimed that the kitten died in a car accident.
Samutklalin, who was suspicious of the DJ, explained that the cat had belonged to her sister, a veterinarian, who recently put it for adoption.
She is not the only one that reported the DJ. Another woman also accused her of animal cruelty against one of the cats that she had given to her.
Animal rights activists and groups are seeking legal actions against the accused.
However, for now, there is no hard evidence that can convict the DJ.
Unfortunately, it's not the first time for authorities to deal with such case.
The dark web has secret underground communities that are based on fetishes, including such animal cruelty.
According to several Reddit posts, a darknet site called Cruel Onion Wiki features half-nude women killing small animals.
To stay anonymous, these communities use cryptocurrencies as a more secure method of payment.
Over $200,000 in Crypto Seized from Infamous British Hacker
According to asset disclosure documents released this month, the U.S. Secret Service together with the London Metropolitan Police in the U.K. confiscated $217,000 in cryptocurrency from a British hacker accused of stealing personal information and then selling it for Bitcoin on the dark web.
The hacker, Grant West, was arrested last year by the British police on charges of hacking into more than 100 companies, stealing sensitive information and selling it on AlphaBay, a darknet market that was seized by law enforcement last summer.
West was sentenced to 10 years in prison earlier this year.
New information reveals the extent of the U.S.'s involvement with the investigation into West's dealings.
According to court records, West kept his money in a U.S.-based account, which led to federal authorities in Delaware getting involved in the case and seizing around $217,000 of West's money.
The disclosure document [PDF] shows that the coins were then transferred to the U.S. Secret Service and later to the Marshals Service.
Currently, there is no information on where the Bitcoin funds are now.
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That's it for our summary of this week's major crypto news headlines. This is the 17th post in our crypto news series. See previous installments here:
