Citizens of France, Belgium and Israel have the police to thank for foiling a crypto investment scam that promised to return 35 percent on citizens’ crypto investment.
However, before the fraud was stopped, private companies in France alongside a local French authority were already victims of these scammers as the police made 10 arrests of suspects related to the crypto investment scam.
European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) revealed that Belgium and France authorities partnered to arrest the scammers. The criminal networks are allegedly involved in large-scale international scams where they sell and buy Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
85 victims in Belgium and France defrauded of around EUR 6 million
The scammers allegedly defrauded around 85 victims in Belgium and France of around EUR 6 million as the Organized Criminal Group (OCG) members already had plans of defrauding other people and were operating from Israel.
However, the crypto investments scam’s alleged leader has been arrested for committing carbon tax fraud. The authorities began investigating the criminal group since 2018 after which five suspects where arrested in Israel in 2019 with the help of Eurojust.
The criminal group had promised scam victims a high return on crypto investments through its online platform. The loot also included golds, diamonds as they were promised around 35% return on their crypto investments.
The group managed to dupe victims by pretending to be managing their account successfully and thereby asking them to keep investing.
French investors fall prey to crypto investments scam
Reportedly, France’s local authority and private company were duped too by the crypto investments scammers. Eurojust explained that the group got in touch with victims by phone proposing that they will make huge profits in BTC investment. The group allowed victims to gain small profits on their investments which encouraged them to invest further.
As investments continued to rise, victims continued to lose money as they were diverted to other fake companies that were established for the sole purpose of defrauding them. The gains were further moved through bank accounts in EU member states to bank accounts in Asia.
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