Multinational joint operation destroys dark web child pornography website using Bitcoin payment

Beijing time on the 17th news, law enforcement officials from the United States, Britain and South Korea announced on Wednesday that they had launched a joint operation to dismantle a South Korea-based dark web child pornography website and arrested hundreds of people around the world. The website sold child pornography videos and used Bitcoin to pay.

Officials said it was one of the largest child pornography sites they had encountered so far. The site, called Welcome To Video, sold 250,000 videos depicting child sexual abuse using cryptocurrency.

The U.S. Justice Department said officials in the United States, Britain and Spain have rescued at least 23 underage victims. Many of the children in the video have not yet been identified.

“Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most egregious and reprehensible forms of criminal activity,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian A. Benczkowski.

The site's operator, a South Korean named Jong Woo Son, and 337 users from 12 different countries have been charged.

Son, who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence in South Korea, also faces charges from U.S. authorities. Several other people charged have already been convicted and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The site was one of the first child pornography sites to use Bitcoin to make money, allowing users to hide their identities in transactions. The U.S. Department of Justice said the site collected at least $370,000 worth of Bitcoin before it was shut down in March 2018. (Financial World)