Key takeaways:
- Police seized £2 million in Bitcoin from a 17-year-old teenager after a money laundering investigation.
British police in Lincolnshire, England, seized $2.7 million (£2 million) in Bitcoin from a 17-year-old teenager who has not been identified for legal reasons.
As part of a “sophisticated cyber fraud,” the boy created a false website and purchased Bitcoin with stolen coupons worth $8,900 (£6,500). The Lincoln Crown Court granted him a 12-month rehabilitation order. However, he was able to steal £6,500 in vouchers and use the money to purchase cryptocurrencies.
He then paid Google to market his bogus website, which resulted in it ranking high when users searched for the legitimate page.
The boy’s fraudulent website in April 2020 was nearly identical to Love2Shop, a business that offers gift cards and vouchers. After a week, the boy removed the site, just as Love2Shop began investigating the hoax in response to a complaint.
Sam Skinner, prosecuting the case, said, “People were duped into clicking on his website thinking they were accessing the official site.”
The police inquiry discovered 48 Bitcoin, a portion of other cryptocurrencies, over 12,000 credit card numbers, and the information for a further 197 PayPal accounts on the teenager’s computer.
Mr Skinner said: “He had received through his PayPal accounts between January and March 2020 a total of £323,000. These sums came into his account and were transferred into cryptocurrency.”
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