The creator of a fraudulent crypto project was detained in Spain
Interpol has been searching for the suspect since 2015
24.11.2021 - 13:00
691
2 min
0
What’s new? The law enforcement agencies in Spain have detained a Latvian citizen in a case involving the creation of a fraudulent cryptocurrency project. According to preliminary reports, the criminal escaped with €500 000 of the victims.
Identificado uno de los mayores estafadores de criptomonedas establecido en España y buscado por INTERPOL desde 2015En su última estafa, creó una moneda virtual bajo el token “Holdlife” y sustrajo más de medio millón de euros a cientos de afectadoshttps://t.co/GecAPYaaS5 pic.twitter.com/1XIfFbUx8s— Guardia Civil 🇪🇸 (@guardiacivil) November 23, 2021
How did the events develop? According to the Spanish Guardia Civil, the detainee founded the project and the Hodlife token of the same name. He used Twitter and Telegram to promote it and invited an actor to make positive video reviews about the project. In June 2020, the Latvian made an exit scam, embezzling investors' money. The Spanish Guardia Civil estimated that more than 1000 people were affected and the amount of damage exceeded €500 000 in cryptocurrency translations.
“His victims were not only in Spain but also in other countries. We are now calling on people who have been affected to contact us,” the agency said.
How did the law enforcers identify the criminal? The fraudster, with a fake passport, acted from Spain. He laundered funds through mixing services. However, the law enforcers managed to establish a connection between different wallets and trace the criminal. Interpol has been looking for the suspect since 2015.
Useful material?
Telegram 
Twitter Incidents
Developers warned of potential risks to bridges across the ecosystem and asked exchanges for assistance.
Jun 22, 2026
Incidents
The defendant helped move funds stolen through investment scams and earned at least $4 million for his role in the operation.
Jun 10, 2026
Incidents
The company is linking the incident to a compromised private key on a service wallet, rather than a smart contract exploit
May 22, 2026
Incidents
Following the incident, the project temporarily halted trading operations and node activity.
May 15, 2026
Incidents
The user spent weeks unsuccessfully trying to guess the password until Claude helped find an old wallet backup file
May 14, 2026
Crypto regulations
Authorities are introducing mandatory registration for companies handling cross-border crypto transactions
May 8, 2026
Cryptocurrency rates
-
Bitcoin
$62 445
BTC
-1.76%
-
Ethereum
$2 551.16
ETH
+3.56%
-
BNB Smart Chain
$579.4
BSC
+1.23%
-
Ripple
$1.07
XRP
-1.75%
-
TRON
$0.160134
TRX
-1.59%
-
Dogecoin
$0.072031
DOGE
-1.24%
-
Zcash
$501.4
ZEC
-5.62%
-
Stellar XLM
$0.180548
XLM
-3.01%
-
Cardano
$0.157974
ADA
-2.18%
-
Polkadot
$3.32
DOT
+5.27%