London police look for thousands of victims as suspected crypto fraudsters caught
Another suspected gang of crypto fraudsters has been arrested, this time in London, with police seeking to find victims after “millions of pounds” were allegedly stolen.
The Met Police’s Economic Crime team said they had arrested five men, aged between 21 and 37, as part of an ongoing investigation into a large-scale crypto investment fraud. The arrested men have since been bailed pending further enquiries.
“Losses are believed to have run into millions of pounds and affected thousands of victims in the capital and beyond,” police said, adding that officers will be seeking to contact people who may have been impacted by the scheme.
The alleged fraud scheme involved “a sophisticated fraud technique,” with several websites, such as DTX Exchange, Intel Markets, Cryptids, and others, that promised pre-sale investment opportunities in new digital tokens.
“These websites are highly convincing and use professional-looking content, fake endorsements, and aggressive marketing tactics to lure people in,” Detective Sergeant Stephen Bourne from the Metropolitan Police Service said.
The investigation has shown that the suspects allegedly promised returns of 100% or more, claiming that prices would rally once the tokens were listed on major exchanges. However, according to police, “there was no genuine intention to list these tokens,” which had “no underlying value.”
What’s more, the arrested men are suspected of making follow-up calls to victims to encourage further investment.
Meanwhile, the UK is also mulling ways to compensate victims of one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency schemes. As reported by Cybernews.com, UK police seized 61,000 bitcoin ($6.6 billion) from Chinese national Zhimin Qian, who pleaded guilty to her role in the scheme in September this year.
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