- The UK police have taken into custody a man and woman who are accused of money laundering and fraud.
- A lot of assets have been discovered by investigators in various forms.
- 23 victims out of 150 have already got their money back.
It has recently been reported that the victims of an international cryptocurrency scam have been refunded more than £4m. Two experienced officers were able to trace the two suspects, and according to sources £7m hasn’t been claimed yet.
Scams related to crypto has been increasing alarmingly. Last year in the Manchester raid, police officers collected more than £16m after arresting the scammers. An additional £7m was found by investigators in an encrypted USB stick. A 23-year old man and a 25-year old woman were arrested allegedly for money laundering and fraud.
A few days after the arrest, an additional £9.3m was discovered in a “Cryptograph safety deposit box, effectively an online safe, and the code to access it”. The victims were from the UK, US, Europe, China, Australia and Hong Kong, and they were cheated of the money in the name of online savings and trading services using the Binance Smart Chain.
150 victims have registered a request for a refund, and 23 of them have been identified and has already got their money back. The administration is encouraging other victims to come forward, and the identification and verification process of the rest 127 victims is ongoing.
The investigation of the suspects are continuing, and they have been released for the time being. “Our lives are now online or on our phones, and currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are often seen as the future when it comes to money and trading.
However, this type of crime is increasing across the globe, and criminals are getting savvier by finding ways to exploit the trend, in ways even the most experienced users can’t anticipate.”, said Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop from GMP’s economic and cybercrime unit.
