Terrorist financing and the internet

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism

Volumn 33, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 353-363

  Jacobson, Michael ^a  

^a University Fellow   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 77949311943     PISSN: 1057610X     EISSN: 15210731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10576101003587184     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Affadavit in Support of Request for Extradition of Babar Ahmad, September 2004 and indictment of Ahmad in US v. Babar Ahmad, 2004.
2. Affadavit in Support of Request for Extradition of Babar Ahmad, September 2004.
3. The entire organization was designated in June 2008; many branches of al-Haramain had been designated years earlier. Treasury press release, "Treasury designates Al Haramain Islamic Foundation," 19 June 2008.
4. "Saudi National Charged with Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Hamas and other Violent Jihadists," Justice Department Press Release, 4 March 2004. Available at http://www.usdoj. gov/opa/pr/2004/March/04 crm 137.htm
5. Bob Fink, "Idaho Graduate Student Acquitted of Using Internet to Support Terrorism," Associated Press, 11 June 2004. Available at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/ 2001952936 webstudentacquitted10.html
6. Maureen O'Hagan, "A Terrorism Case that Went Awry," Seattle Times, 22 November 2004.
7. Fourth Report of the United Nations 1267 Monitoring Team, January 2006. Available at http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/230/45/PDF/N0623045.pdf?OpenElement
8. "Jihad Online; Islamic Terrorists and the Internet," Anti-Defamation League, 2002.
9. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, "Declassified Key Judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate 'Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States' Dated April 2006." Available at http://www.dni.gov/press releases/Declassified NIE Key Judgments.pdf
10. Gordon Corera, "The World's Most Wanted Cyber-Jihadist," BBC News, 16 January 2008.
11. "Cyber Operative Charged in Real World Terror Plot," Anti Defamation League, 1 March 2006.
12. See US Secret Service press release. Available at http://www.secretservice.gov/ press/pub2304.pdf. These forums obtained the credit cards through various online scams and e-mail viruses.
13. Brian Krebs, "Terrorism's Hook into Your Inbox," Washington Post, 5 July 2007.
14. For example, one New Jersey woman described how she received an e-mail asking for her to verify eBay account information, which she completed, including sensitive financial information. Al-Daour ended up with her credit card information.
15. Krebs, "Terrorism's Hook into Your Inbox."
16. Written statement of Andy Cochran, Congressional Hearing, 31 March 2009, For the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity, and Science and Technology Hearing, U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, "Do the Payment Card Industry Data Standards Reduce Cybercrime?" Interestingly, Tsouli's terrorist activities went beyond financial, to other types of logistical support. Of particular concern to U.S. authorities, British investigators discovered "casing" videos of targets in the United States, including various landmarks in the Washington, DC area. They were allegedly shot by two individuals living in the Atlanta, Georgia area.
17. John Murgatroyd, "Two Views of Former Georgia Tech Student Drawn at Terror Trial," CNN, 2 June 2009. Available at http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/02/georgia.jihad.trial/
18. Financial Action Task Force, Terrorist Financing, 29 February 2008. Available at http://www.fatf-gafi.org/dataoecd/28/43/40285899.pdf, p. 11.
19. Treasury press release, "Treasury Department Statement Regarding the Designation of the Global Relief Foundation," 18 October 2002. http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/po3553.htm
20. "Jihad Online; Islamic Terrorists and the Internet."
21. Treasury designation of al-Haramain as an organization, 19 June 2008. Available at http:// www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp1043.htm
22. Treasury press release, 2 June 2004. Available at http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/ js1703.htm
23. "Jihad Online; Islamic Terrorists and the Intenet."
24. Treasury designation of Interpal, 22 August 2003. Available at http://www.ustreas.gov/ press/releases/js672.htm;
25. Union of Good designation, 12 November 2008. Available at http://www. treas.gov/press/releases/hp1267.htm
26. Steve Merley, "The Union of Good: Interpal and the UK Member Organizations," NEFA Foundation, 23 March 2009. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/ nefaunionofgoodmemberorgs0309.pdf
27. Terrorists are also far from alone in using the Internet for illicit purposes. In fact, crime on the Internet has been growing rapidly, with the FBI estimating losses from Internet crime in 2008 at approximately $264 million. The agency received 275,000 such complaints from the public in that year alone. FBI press release, 30 March 2009. Available at http://www.fbi.gov/page2/ march09/internet 033009.html
28. Fourth Report of the United Nations 1267 Monitoring Team.
29. It's important to note that the funds themselves would not actually be transferred through the Internet. The communication channel would instruct a service provider on what action to take.
30. David Aufhauser, Testimony Before the House Financial Services Oversight Committee, 18 May 2004. http://financialservices.house.gov/media/pdf/051804da.pdf
31. David Kaplan, "Paying for Terror: How Jihadist Groups are using Organized-Crime Tactics-and Profits-to Finance Attacks on Targets around the Globe," U.S. News and World Report, 27 November 2005. Available at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/051205/ 5terror print.htm
32. Written statement of Andy Cochran, Congressional Hearing.
33. Alan Sipress, "An Indonesian's Prison Memoir Takes Holy War into Cyberspace," Washington Post, 14 December 2004.
34. "Irhaby 007's American Connections," NEFA Foundation, January 2008, citing Kaplan, "Paying for Terror."
35. Rita Katz and Michael Kern, "Terrorist 007, Exposed," The Washington Post, 26 March 2006.
36. Nadya Labi, "Jihad 2.0," The Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2006. This was apparently something Tsouli learned early in his Internet career. When he first began visiting a particular jihadist site, one of the members of the forum warned Tsouli not to access the site from his own IP address-a lesson Tsouli appears to have generally heeded.
37. Written statement of Andy Cochran, Congressional Hearing.
38. Labi, "Jihad 2.0."
39. Katz and Kern, "Terrorist 007, Exposed."
40. Corera, "The World's Most Wanted Cyber-Jihadist." Although Tsouli was extremely careless on several occasions, failing to anonymize his transactions, which led one private cyberinvestigator to conclude that Tsouli was located in Ealing, England-a short distance from his actual home. Labi, "Jihad 2.0."
41. "Cyber Operative Charged in Real World Terror Plot," Anti Defamation League, 1 March 2006. http://www.adl.org/main Terrorism/terrorist 077 younis tsouli.htm
42. Indictment of Babar Ahmed, and Affadavit in Support of Extradition.
43. Joby Warrick and Candace Rondeauz, "Extremist Web Sites are Using US hosts," Washington Post, 9 April 2009.
44. Justice Department press release, 13 October 2006. Available at http://www.usdoj.gov/ usao/txn/PressRel06/elashi bayan ghassan basman infocom sent pr.html
45. Jihadi Discussion Forum Posting on Safely Financing Jihad-Related Websites, Translated by NEFA Foundation, 7 April 2009. http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/ nefafinancejihadsites0409.pdf
46. "Jihad Online; Islamic Terrorists and the Internet."
47. See, for example, the U.S. Justice Department prosecutions of MENAEXCHANGE.com, a money remitter that transferred funds between the United States, the Middle East, and North Africa.
48. Bonnie Johnson, "Obama to Create 'Cybersecurity' Chief," The Guardian, 29 May 2009. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/29/obama-cybersecurity
49. Chris Williams, "UK.gov to Create Central Cybersecurity Agency," The Register, 15 June 2009. Available at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/15/cabinet office cybersec agency/
50. "Chef to Sue over Terror Charges," BBC, 13 August 2002. The British have been more successful in other Internet-related cases. According to British authorities, an Al Qaeda-associated individual in the United Kingdom was using multiple identities to finance the purchase and supply of explosives components for use in another country. Forensic financial investigation revealed that this person used multiple accounts to purchase high resolution maps of a third country over the Internet. Following the money enabled investigators to track the international travel of the conspirators as well as the delivery by international courier of components for improvised explosives to the same foreign country over several months. Multiple transactions involving accounts controlled by an associate of the original suspect revealed a wider conspiracy. In a joint operation with a foreign law enforcement agency, the original suspect was tracked to a third country where he was arrested in a makeshift bomb factory. HM Treasury, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Government of the United Kingdom, "The Financial Challenge to Crime and Terrorism," February 2007. Available at http://www.hm- treasury.gov.uk/media/C/B/financialchallenge crime 280207.pdf.
51. Jeremy Kirk, "Europe Looks to Step Up Fights against Cybercrime," PC World, 10 June 2009. Available at http://www.pcworld.com/article/166420/europe looks to step up fight against cybercrime.html
52. "Terrorist Use of the Internet: Threat, Issues, and Options for International Cooperation," Rapahel Perl, OSCE, 7-10 April 2008, at the Second International Forum on Information Security.
53. Interview with State Department official, January 2008.
54. "Terrorist Use of the Internet."
55. "Indian States Make Cyber-Users Sign in," Fox News, 10 January 2006. Available at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,181221,00.html
56. For example, at an April 2009 conference in Spain organized by the Council of Europe and the Organization of American States that the author attended, the Russian Federation was pressing for an international treaty to govern this area, but the United States and others pushed back against the Russian proposals. The U.S. position is that the focus should be on improving the implementation of the Council of Europe's September 2001 Cyber-crime treaty.
57. FATF Report, entitled, "Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing: Vulnerabilities of Commercial Websites, and Internet Payment Systems," 18 June 2008. Available at http://www.fatf- gafi.org/dataoecd/57/21/40997818.pdf
58. Olga Kharif, "Virtual Currencies Gain in Popularity," Business Week, 6 May 2009.