The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police formed a specialized unit to handle financial crimes involving digital currencies.
The Support Center for Virtual Asset Investigations, known as NUCRIPTO, will offer technical support to police stations in cases of money laundering and crypto scams. Coordination will rest with the General Department for Combating Corruption and Money Laundering.
In recent weeks, operations in areas such as Complexo de Lins, Complexo da Maré and Baixada Fluminense uncovered clandestine cryptocurrency mining farms. The sites held hundreds of devices connected to irregular power sources.
The new unit responds to the growing use of digital assets by criminal groups to hide illicit funds.