Binance says it helped UK police investigate a $51 million fraud

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has said that it helped the U.K. police force to investigate a fraud worth about £41.6 million (~$51 million).

Samuel Lim, chief compliance officer of Binance, wrote in a blog post on Thursday that the exchange had worked with the Metropolitan Police Service’s Cyber Crime Unit in the investigation, which involved a Bulgarian individual suspected of creating and selling phishing scripts that targeted customers of at least 53 different services.

The scripts allowed other criminals to obtain personal information from users of those services, which was later allegedly sold on the dark web. The operation affected roughly half a million victims, Lim said.

The Bulgarian individual was recently extradited to the UK, and pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud and was sentenced to nine years in custody, according to the blog post.

While Lim did not name the individual, a local news outlet in the U.K., The Register, names him as Svetoslav Donchev, 37, in a report published last week.

“We are pleased with the outcome of this case and are proud to have helped bring justice to those involved,” said Lim, adding: “We also recognize that cooperation with law enforcement entities around the world plays a large part in fostering a safe environment in this space.”