HAPI Labs Launches Scamfari OSINT Platform to Combat Crypto Crime in Partnership with Ukraine’s Cyber Police
In a new partnership with Ukraine’s cyber police, HAPI Labs has launched Scamfari OSINT, a platform empowering users to report cryptocurrency wallets linked to scams, terrorism financing, sanctions violations, and other crimes. The Ukrainian authorities will work to freeze the wallets, the agency announced on Monday. HAPI, a crypto start-up dedicated to developing cybersecurity tools for decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, previously ran contests aimed at uncovering fraudulent and criminal crypto wallets. With a focus on the money pro-Russian volunteers raise to help Russian troops invading Ukraine, users who report the most wallets receive rewards in HAPI’s own token, but only if their reports are approved.
Blacklist Machine: How it Works
The platform operates by having users sign up via a Telegram bot and fill out a form, submitting a blockchain address and a screenshot proving that the address is used for criminal purposes. Two HAPI staffers then manually verify whether reports contain truthful and relevant data and approve or reject them. Once a report is approved, the reporter is assigned a reward in HAPI’s own tokens. For instance, $1 for a new address in the database, 10 cents for an address previously reported, and $5 for an address linked to a sanctioned person or entity, according to HAPI’s head of research Mark Letsyuk. While rewards are currently being distributed manually every two weeks, HAPI aims to automate reward distribution using smart contracts in the future. The community may also have a vote on whether to replace the HAPI token with a stablecoin as a reward, Letsyuk said.
AI’s Future Role in Report Approval
Looking ahead, HAPI is considering the possibility of using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate report approval. Letsyuk revealed that HAPI is feeding reports received to the GPT-4, the latest AI product by OpenAI. While it currently looks very raw, it shows promising potential. Scamfari OSINT launched in beta last week and already received over 15,000 addresses, including wallets raising funds for Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine.
Targeting Wallets Linked to Financing Russian Troops Invading Ukraine
The Ukrainian cyber police, in its announcement, emphasized that it will be looking particularly for wallets linked to financing Russian troops invading Ukraine. According to a CoinDesk investigation, such accounts have raised at least $1.8 million for ammunition, vehicles, and other supplies since the beginning of the war. Binance, the crypto exchange, has estimated that the number could be as high as $7.2 million. With Scamfari OSINT, HAPI and Ukraine’s cyber police aim to make a significant impact in the fight against crypto-related crime.
Source: CoinDesk
