The FBI used 'criminal influencers' to convince criminal syndicates to use a messaging app they secretly ran

Azmi HarounJun 9, 2021, 02:01 IST

Business Insider

The FBI seal is seen outside the headquarters building in Washington, DC on July 5, 2016. - The FBI said Tuesday it will not recommend charges over Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server as secretary of state, but said she had been "extremely careless" in her handling of top secret data. The decision not to recommend prosecution will come as a huge relief for the presumptive Democratic nominee whose White House campaign has been dogged by the months-long probe.Photo by YURI GRIPAS/AFP via Getty Images

An international sting operation using a fake encrypted messaging app has resulted in 800 arrests.
High-profile 'criminal influencers' used and pushed the app as well, thinking it was secure.

Global police agencies arrested over 800 people in a massive sting operation, by tracking "criminal influencers," and drug traffickers on a messaging app run by the FBI.

The sting was coordinated by officers in 20 countries across Europe, in addition to the US and Australia.

The app, ANOM, was installed on barren phones with no video or camera capabilities and was encrypted, according to CBS News.

Australian authorities said that kingpins in the drug trafficking world, or what they called "criminal influencers," vouched for the app's legitimacy and that users did not employ code words in their operations.

The app was developed as part of Trojan Shield, an operation led by the FBI, the DEA, and Europol, and for months the FBI monitored millions of messages on ANOM.

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The FBI used 'criminal influencers' to convince criminal syndicates to use a messaging app they secretly ran