AST April 2018 Magazine AST April Magazine (3.30.18) | Page 5

closed network Volume 22 of criminals, all of Phantom Se- cure’s customers are believed to be involved in serious criminal activity. “By shutting down Phantom Secure, criminals worldwide April 2018 Edition no longer have that platform to conduct their dangerous criminal activities.” In collaboration with the Australian Federal Police, Phantom Secure Advertisement Statement: Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and law enforce- ment agencies in Panama, Hong Kong, and Thai- “Phantom Secure is a high-end communication service land, Phantom Secure’s founder and chief executive for executives who need an effective and proven solution Vincent Ramos was arrested in Bellingham, Wash- for all their concerns in the mobile field. For over 10 ington, on March 7. years, our service has been tested worldwide without incident.” “This has led to our worldwide reputation as a market leader in encrypted private communications, but more importantly, a company that you can CONFIDENCE. We emphasize trust, because without trust all service is questionable.” “Thanks to our innovation and reliability, we are recog- nized and valued by our exclusive customers worldwide as the most trusted private company.” Most of Phantom Secure’s 10,000 to 20,000 users are the top-level leaders of nefarious transnational criminal organizations in the U.S. and several other countries, and the prod- ucts were marketed as impervious to decryption or wiretapping. “Working with our interna- tional partners in Australia and Canada, we learned that these phones have been used to coordinate drug traf- ficking, murders, assaults, money laundering, and all sorts of other crimes,” said Special Agent Nicholas Che- viron of the FBI’s San Diego Division, who investigated the case along with U.S. and international counterparts. (The FBI has arrested Vincent Ramos, the CEO of Phantom Secure. The company is an established maker of custom smart- phones. Motherboard reported that Ramos allegedly aided criminal organizations by providing devices that were modified to hide their illegal activities.) 3