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Highlights
- In a significant turn of events, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) on Tuesday returned over £4 million to the victims of an international crypto scam that rocked the country.
- According to the official statement, a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were arrested on accounts of fraud and money laundering after they received intelligence inputs.
- The scam allegedly has impacted investors in the UK, US, China, Australia, and Hong Kong.
In a significant turn of events, the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) on Tuesday returned over £4 million to the victims of an international crypto scam that rocked the country. The fraud was unearthed by the GMP in July 2021, after it seized £16 million (US$22.25 million), involving cryptos such as Ethereum and other currencies.
According to the official statement, a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman were arrested on accounts of fraud and money laundering offences by the GMP after they received intelligence. The report added that £4 million were returned to 23 verified victims. Another 127 claims are pending with the cops and are due for investigations.
The scam
The international scam, which impacted victims in the UK, US, China, Australia, and Hong Kong, many investors lost their life savings after they invested through the Binance Smart Chain.
The infamous Ethereum scam, which happened in July last week, saw the scammers wait for a certain period to ensure they collected enough money before running away with the whole amount and removing all the documents and proofs. As per police sources, they left some proofs, which were unearthed by GMP.
At the time of arrest, the police had recovered a USB stick containing US$9.5 million in stolen Ethereum, and an additional US$12.7 million was recovered from a cryptograph safety deposit box.
How Greater Manchester Police Returned Millions To Crypto Scam Victims
Safe crypto transactions
This is not the first case wherein the UK police recovered stolen cryptocurrencies. Last year, the London Metropolitan Police (MET) had seized US$158 million worth of cryptocurrency as part of a money laundering investigation. A month later, in one of the biggest crypto busts, the MET seized almost $250 million in illicit cryptocurrency.
Joe Harrop, Detective Chief Inspector, GMP, warned investors that though crypto trading is gaining momentum, the investors must stay vigilant and wary of illicit players. He added that these scams are becoming very common, and scammers are looking for new ways to dupe investors.
Conclusion
The cryptocurrency-related offence has been on a high of late, and scammers are looking for unique ways to dodge the bullets. According to a Chainalysis report, crypto crimes hit a new all-time high in 2021, with various addresses receiving US$14 billion in the whole year. Investors must be careful while investing in cryptocurrencies and be wary of various dubious projects or rug pull scams, police said.
