UK Police Return $5.4 Million to Cryptocurrency Fraud Victims – British police have returned almost $5.4 million to victims of an international cryptocurrency scam. According to the police, the victims would receive a refund of around $10 million. So far, 127 more people have filed claims to recuperate their losses.
The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in the United Kingdom said on Friday that assets seized from a worldwide cryptocurrency scam identified by its officers in July of last year have been delivered to their rightful owners.
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The following are the announcement’s specifics:
Over four million pounds has been returned to 23 verified victims, and investigators are working with foreign law enforcement partners around the world to go into another 127 alleged claims.
“Another seven million pounds to be returned to lawful owners,” the police said. The announcement, however, makes no mention of whether the victims will receive cryptocurrency or fiat dollars from the cops.
“In July 2021, specialized officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Economic Crime Unit seized a sum of $22.25 million (equal to just over £16 million) after intelligence led to the discovery of USB sticks with considerable sums of Ethereum,” the police claimed.
A total of 150 victims contacted the unit’s officers from all across the world.
Authorities said that crypto investors from the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong placed money into Binance Smart Chain, believing it to be an online savings and trading service. The scammers, on the other hand, shut down the scheme’s website and took the money into their own accounts.
On suspicion of fraud and money laundering, a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were arrested, but were later freed pending further investigation.
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GMP’s Economic and Cyber Crime Unit’s Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop stated:
Saving and trading services for cryptocurrency are becoming increasingly popular, with efforts luring customers to spend significant sums of money in exchange for tokens that can be sold for a profit.
“Anyone using these cryptocurrencies or trading services should exercise extreme caution and perform comprehensive study since there are still significant risks,” he warned. If anything seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.”
