The rising value of bitcoin has created millionaires and piqued the interest of investors in recent months. But while there are a number of positive uses for the cryptocurrency, a dark side has unfortunately emerged as well, one FBI agent tells The Shreveport Times.
“It’s very easy to get. If it’s easy for you and I to get, how easy is it for the criminal to be involved?” says David Ellis, a Shreveport-based analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The digital currency is not tangible, but it is extremely easy to acquire. Users can download a bitcoin wallet on their phones from Google Play or the Apple store, then go to a bitcoin ATM—which can be found in Baton Rouge, New Orleans or Shreveport—to convert money instantly.
But because it isn’t taxed and has no real oversight, bitcoin has become used by some for criminal purposes like sex trafficking and as a requested form of payment for hacking, Ellis says.
“Who do you contact if somebody hacks your phone and takes 10,000 bitcoin; who do you tell?” he adds. “There’s nobody to subpoena, no customer service desk, no 800 number. If we have someone walk in and say, ‘Hey, someone stole $100,000 in bitcoin from my phone,’ we can’t do anything.”
