Police in Canada revealed they had conducted an investigation using blockchain surveillance software Chainalysis Reactor to combat crypto crime.

The police discussed the situation with Sergeant Kevin Talbot of the Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) Economic Crimes Unit. Talbot has been trained in blockchain analysis, which is considered a significant advance for a smaller force like LPS.

The report notes the technology allows LPS to trace transactions, identify suspects, and determine where funds have been deposited, although prosecuting fraudsters remains a challenge.

Talbot revealed it allows police to write production orders to gather information about account holders.

“We will get to the point where we have transaction data but we can’t track it because it requires special programming to do these things and training. In Canada, we are making progress,” said Talbot, quoted from Bitcoin.com, Monday (21 /8/2023).

Talbot added that he would use the Chain Reactor program to trace the exchange. The information is then shared with investigators who will then write a production order to obtain information about the account holder, whether there are funds in the account and where the funds have been transferred.

“The focus when we carried out this investigation was twofold. “We want to prosecute someone but often even though the individuals involved are overseas which makes it a little more difficult to prosecute, but there’s not always an opportunity where they’re local or at least in North America,” he concluded.