- Eurojust has coordinated a big crypto scam bust.
- The fraud scheme was operational for nearly three months.
- Multiple suspects were arrested, and millions of assets were seized following the bust.
The European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) has led authorities from three countries to bust an Austria-based online crypto fraud scheme believed to have scammed users of millions of euros.
Terming it an exit scam, Eurojust said the collapsed scheme was operational between December 2017 and February 2018. During this time, the perpetrators lured unsuspecting victims into buying a dubious cryptocurrency touted as a newly launched digital asset via a fake company website.
Nabbing the Suspects
After “exiting” the scam in February 2018, the Austrian-based fraudsters went dark by deleting their social media accounts and taking the fake company’s homepage offline.
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“This so-called exit scam made it clear to investors that they had been conned. They lost around EUR 6 million. Not all victims of the fraud have been identified at this stage,” Eurojust said in a statement Wednesday.
This prompted authorities to launch a manhunt for the scammers, which finally resulted in the arrest of six main suspects and the seizure of two cars, EUR 750,000 in assets, and property worth EUR 1.4 million on May 8.
Per the statement, the bust was a collaborative effort of multiple authorities, including Europol, Cyprus Police, the Czech Republic’s National Organised Crime Agency, and Austria’s Central Public Prosecutor’s Office for Combatting Economic Crimes and Corruption.
“Eurojust supported the action day against the online scam with a coordination centre, enabling real-time communication between all the authorities involved. This also enabled the rapid execution of European Arrest Warrants and search warrants,” the statement read.
Eurojust did not clarify the next action against the arrested suspects or seized assets.
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Read about the recent exit scam accusations levied against Humanized AI:
Humanized AI Faces Exit Scam Accusations After Going Dark
Stay updated on why BitForex recently stirred exit scam fears:
Here’s Why BitForex Is Stirring Exit Scam Fears Among Users
