The FBI’s encrypted phone sting spied on thousands of criminals worldwide. Why none in the US?

Anom devices were active in more than 100 countries. — Courtesy of US Department of Justice/TNS

SAN DIEGO: In 2018, a San Diego-led federal sting secretly launched an encrypted communications company. Over the next few years, FBI agents, working with law enforcement partners in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, seeded thousands of spyware-infected phones into the hands of criminals and used them to build cases against 300 organised crime groups, from biker gangs to Italian mafia cells, around the world.

But one country was off-limits for investigating agents: the United States.