The European Police Organization's bounty on Russian ransomware gangs is actually a scam

ChainCatcher news, a so-called reward of $50,000 from the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) to track down the administrators of the Russian ransomware gang Qilin, is actually just a Telegram scam. This false reward message has deceived several cybersecurity news outlets, leading them to mistakenly believe that Europol would pay a reward to anyone who could provide information about the two Qilin administrators, Haise and XORacle.

It is claimed that these two are responsible for "coordinating affiliate organizations and overseeing ransomware activities," and Europol is seeking intelligence that could "directly lead to the identification or location of these administrators."

However, Europol confirmed to Security Week that this so-called reward is actually a "scam," and the agency has never issued such a reward.