UK police returned $5,4 million to cryptocurrency fraud victims

The funds worth $22,25 million were seized by employees of the Economic Crime Unit in July 2021

22.02.2022 - 13:40

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2 min

What’s new? The Greater Manchester Police (GMP) in the United Kingdom has announced that around $5,4 million of the funds seized from an investigation into an international cryptocurrency scam have been returned to their rightful owners. The fraudsters who organized the criminal scheme were arrested in July 2021.

Over £4m has been returned to rightful owners following an worldwide crypto-currency scam rumbled by officers, with millions to be claimed. We found large sums of Ethereum, the second largest Crypto-currency after BitCoin following an investigation. More:https://t.co/b39G95OtAW pic.twitter.com/F5nX2q5dVg— Greater Manchester Police (@gmpolice) February 19, 2022

What do the law enforcement officials say? The police note that the remaining funds should be returned to the legitimate owners. However, the statement does not specify whether the victims will receive cryptocurrency or fiat currency from the police.

“Over $5,4 million have been returned to 23 verified victims and another 127 reported claims are currently being investigated by officers alongside partners in international law enforcement across the globe.”

What had happened before? The scammers encouraged crypto investors from the UK, USA, Europe, China, Australia, and Hong Kong to contribute funds to the project to store and trade cryptocurrencies. However, the attackers subsequently shut down the website and transferred the funds to their own accounts. Two of the attackers were arrested for fraud and money laundering, but released on bail pending further investigations. A total of $22,25 million was seized by GMP’s Economic Crime Unit.

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