The FBI secretly launched an encrypted messaging system for criminals
An encrypted phone service called Anom was secretly run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a yearslong international sting operation. Law enforcement agencies across Europe, the US, and Oceania revealed Anom’s origins earlier today, saying they had arrested 800 criminal suspects based on intercepted communications.
According to public statements, the FBI and other agencies seeded secure Anom phones with suspected crime syndicates, gradually building a network of around 12,000 total (and 9,000 active) devices. The phones secretly siphoned 27 million messages between 2019 and 2021, resulting in Operation Greenlight / Trojan Shield — a large-scale bust that included seizing around eight tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 250 firearms, and $48 million in traditional currencies and cryptocurrencies.
Seamus Hughes, a George Washington University researcher, offered more details from court records. As Vice reported based on Hughes’ work, Anom started in 2018 after police shut down Phantom Secure, an encrypted device network used mostly (the FBI alleges exclusively) by drug traffickers and other organized criminals. An unnamed informant, who had previously sold Phantom Secure phones, told the FBI they were building a “next generation” encrypted device called Anom. The informant offered the system to the FBI and Australian Federal Police in exchange for a reduced sentence on criminal charges, then agreed to sell Anom phones to their existing distribution network that catered to organized crime, giving the new system credibility.
