- Europol teamed up with Spain’s Civil Guard and Catalan police to shut down a fraud scheme posing as a crypto investment training firm
- At least six suspects were arrested in connection with the scheme
- Their crypto portfolio was made up of Bitcoin, Ethereum, OmiseGo, and XRP tokens
Since the inception of the crypto industry, fraudsters have taken advantage of the lack of strict regulatory guidelines to sell products that offer no real value, and in some cases, outrightly dupe investors of their funds.
The crypto industry has suffered hacks, the Mt. Gox incident stands out, fraud ICOs, GemCoin is a great example of a crypto project that had big claims, and Ponzi Schemes, the Australian cloud mining farms. Although the crypto industry is seeing a reduction in such incidents, a new type of fraud arises.
Fraudsters Posing as Crypto Investment Training Firm
Cyber fraudsters seem to have taken a turn in their modus operandi. Unlike Ponzi Schemes where investors are promised a certain too good to be true percentage return on their investments, these schemes pose online to be either a verified crypto project or a new blockchain startup.
Sponsored
Some of these schemes go as far as opening websites, mobile wallets, and social media accounts that are an exact replica of the project they claim to be. In this case, a cryptocurrency and foreign exchange investment training.
Crime Fighting Agencies Bust Fraud Andorran Crypto Firm
The firm based in Andorra operated as an investment firm that specializes in cryptocurrency trading and foreign exchange investment training.
The online scheme was cracked down by a team-up of Europol agents, Spain’s Civil Guard, and the Catalan police department. A total of six suspects between the ages of 20 and 34 were arrested in connection with the scheme.
On the Flipside
- Prime Trust and tZERO have announced a new partnership for digital asset custody trading
- tZERO, a security token trading platform will integrate technology from Prime Trust, a digital asset finance infrastructure provider, under the new partnership
- When the integration is complete, the security token, tZERO would have increased buy limits, faster transaction settlement, and a seamless process of onboarding new cryptocurrencies
Led by Andorran Police under the judicial direction of Specialized Batllia Instruction 2, the crime-fighting agencies searched two houses and seized an estimated €70,000 ($84,716) in fiat currency and cryptocurrencies. Their portfolio was made up of Bitcoin, Ethereum, OmiseGo, and XRP tokens.
According to the agencies, their operations stretched farther than the Andorran borders, touching the international markets. As the crypto market grows and schemes of this nature become prevalent, it is important to know how you can lose your Bitcoins, and the best methods of guarding against these problems as they arise.
