Law enforcement authorities in Europe have arrested five suspects linked to a cryptocurrency investment fraud ring that stole over €100 million ($118 million) from more than 100 victims.
The joint operation started in September 2020 and was carried out by investigative teams from Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, and Romania, coordinated by Eurojust and supported by Europol.
“During the joint action day, five places were searched in both Spain and Portugal, as well as in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria, where bank accounts and other financial assets were also frozen. The alleged main perpetrator is suspected of large-scale fraud and money laundering,” Eurojust said.
“The fraud had been running for several years, with the main suspect offering high returns on investments in various cryptocurrencies via professionally designed online platforms.”
The main suspect was promising potential victims high returns on investments in various cryptocurrencies through professionally designed online platforms. However, a large portion of these investments was instead funneled into bank accounts in Lithuania under the suspected scammers’ control.
When victims attempted to recover their assets, they were required to pay additional fees. Subsequently, the fraudulent website went offline, leaving the investors with substantial losses, and in some cases, they even lost all their money.
This extensive investment fraud operation has been operational since at least 2018, targeting investors across 23 countries, serving either as the residence of victims or as regions for funneling the scam’s profits.
In June, Spanish police arrested five more suspects believed to have defrauded more than 5,000 victims and linked to the laundering $540 million (€460 million) from illegal cryptocurrency investment schemes.
One month later, the Spanish police dismantled another large-scale investment fraud operation that had caused damages exceeding $11.8 million (€10 million).
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission also revealed earlier this year that Americans lost a record $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, with investment scams resulting in the highest losses, totaling around $5.7 billion.
46% of environments had passwords cracked, nearly doubling from 25% last year.
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