The United Kingdom's National Crime Agency (NCA) is stepping up efforts to curb the growing rate of cryptocurrency-related crime within its jurisdiction. The NCA's cybercrime unit, called the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), is launching a dedicated team to tackle crypto crime.
According to a recent Financial News report, the new unit, called the NCCU Crypto Cell, will initially comprise five officers highly experienced with cryptocurrency transactions. A new civil service job opening published by the NCCU confirmed the development and shed further light on the new unit's role with the crime agency.
NCCU is hiring for the role of a "cryptocurrency investigator." The ideal candidate will "support existing and new investigations where specialist cryptocurrency experience is required, along with taking a proactive lead in identifying targets for further development."
The NCCU expects applicants to have skills such as conducting advanced tracing through blockchain, identifying and recovering cryptocurrency seedphrases, and understanding serious and complex investigations, among other things. The officer will also interface with industry stakeholders and is thus expected to understand the role of the respective crypto industry stakeholders and enhance relationships with them to foster more successful investigations.
Applications for the new role remain open until January 10, with the hired officer on track to earn between £40,200 ($48,200) and £43,705 ($52,400) annually. There is also a provision for the employee to receive extended commute-related benefits if the NCCU completes an anticipated relocation to a different location in London come 2025.
UK tackles growing crypto crime
Despite the plunge in the price of cryptocurrencies over the past year, the UK reported a notable increase in the rate of cryptocurrency-related fraud. According to data from the UK police unit Action Fraud, bad actors cashed in over £226 million ($272 million) between October 2021 to September 2022, representing a 32% increase over the past year.
The new NCCU Crypto Cell will augment other ongoing efforts by UK regulators to combat the situation. Authorities are also eyeing new regulations to support the creation of new agencies with crypto expertise.
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