Report: Spain Stops Crypto Scam That Stole $110 Million
One person who was thought to be part of the crime team was taken into custody by the Guardia Civil.
Spain’s police are said to have broken up a criminal group that ran a big bitcoin scam. The thieves stole more than €100 million ($110 million) from more than 3,000 people around the world.
The Guardia Civil arrested a person on Mallorca who was thought to be a part of a gang.
Successful Operation “Mandoa”
A local news source said that the Guardia Civil, which is Spain’s oldest law enforcement body, was looking into a group of criminals who allegedly stole about $110 million from thousands of people by getting them to invest in fake cryptocurrencies.
The police started “Operation Mandoa” after a person in the province of Alava said they had been scammed in a crypto fraud.
The inquiry in the Basque Country and Balearic Islands estimated that a Palma de Mallorca firm received these bogus investments. The accused company also sent money to countries outside of the European Union.
The Guardia Civil stated that members of the group used phone calls, newspaper ads, and SMS to get people to join their scheme by promising them high returns with no risk.
The wrongdoers gave clients access to a website with phony graphs to check their investment gains after receiving payments. Criminals even ordered bogus brokers to keep in touch with victims to keep them investing.
But the gang did not listen to the people when they asked for some of their money. Instead, they told them to send more money, giving reasons like the end of the financial year or paying taxes.
So far, the cops have only arrested one person on Mallorca who they think is part of the criminal group.
Crypto Scams Could Harm
Recently, a lot of people have been scammed in this way, and they have lost a lot of money. Last week, CryptoPotato claimed that a Scottish woman named Jennifer fell for a cryptocurrency scam that left her with a $190,000 debt.
After seeing a fake ad on Facebook with the British journalist and advice expert Martin Lewis, she chose to put all of her money into a questionable project.
“I can’t actually quite believe what’s happened to me; it’s absolutely horrific. It’s taken me a long time to get to where I am, and the thought of losing this home, obviously for the sake of my children, is horrific,” the woman regretted.
A person from Hong Kong who lost all of her money ($900,000) is another case. She was duped by an Instagram criminal who promised high returns on digital currency investments.
When she tried to get her money back, she had to pay a certain fee. She tried to borrow money from her daughter before realizing she was a victim.
