French and Dutch police dismantle encrypted messaging used by thousands of criminals

Europol and Eurojust announced on Tuesday the dismantling of Matrix encrypted messaging, used by criminal groups involved in international drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering, thanks to the joint investigative work of French and Dutch police officers. . “A team of investigators involving French and Dutch authorities dismantled a sophisticated encrypted messaging service, Matrix”declared the European police and judicial cooperation agencies in a joint press release. Matrix is ​​a “encrypted messaging created by criminals for criminals”commented to AFP Commissioner Julie Benoit, head of cyber investigations at Ofac, the French office dedicated to the fight against cybercrime.

Three people, all from Eastern countries, were arrested on Tuesday, one in Paris where she was taken into police custody, and the other two in Spain. In total, a villa valued at 15 million euros was seized in Spain, as well as four luxury vehicles, 145,000 euros in cash and 500,000 euros in cryptocurrencies, Commissioner Benoit detailed, adding that there had been 13 searches, including those of six houses in Lithuania. “970 phones equipped with the Matrix solution were also discovered”she indicated. “Around forty servers, mainly based in France and Germany, have been taken out of service”during this vast police operation which involved four countries (France, Spain, Germany and Lithuania). The investigation notably allowed the interception of messages “linked to serious crimes such as international drug trafficking, arms trafficking and money laundering”underlined Europol and Eurojust.

8000 users identified

Matrix “was first discovered by Dutch authorities on the phone of a man convicted of the murder of a Dutch journalist in 2021”indicates the press release from Europol and Eurojust. In 2022 in France, the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organized Crime (Junalco) was seized due to suspicions about the presence of servers on French territory and the investigations entrusted to Ofac. Then, in 2024, as part of a «task force» Franco-Dutch, the investigators managed to follow “live user conversations”added Julie Benoit. More than 2.3 million messages in 33 languages ​​were intercepted and decrypted during the investigation and 8,000 messaging users were uncovered.

During the investigation, “it quickly became apparent that the infrastructure of this platform was technically more complex than previous platforms such as Sky ECC and EncroChat”explained the European agencies. “The founders were convinced that their service was more secure than previous applications”they stressed, specifying that an invitation was necessary to join the service. The dismantling in 2020 of the global encrypted communications network EncroChat was a turning point in the fight against organized crime, according to investigators. In 2021, they then managed to infiltrate Sky ECC, another application used by criminal groups, who believed it to be inviolable. Other services such as Ghost and Exclu have also been taken down. “This is not the first time and will not be the last time that authorities are able to read criminals' messages in real time”welcomed Europol and Eurojust. “As soon as one encrypted messaging system is discovered, others emerge”note Mme Benoit.