TL;DR Breakdown
- Bazyli Rymarz jailed for laundering $2.6 million.
- Rymarz assisted crypto criminals launder funds after duping victims.
The long hand of the law has caught up with Bazyli Rymarz, a 22-year-old criminal after he helped a group of Bitcoin ATM criminals launder £2 million ($2.6 million).
He was jailed for five years, nine months for the crime. Rymarz was arrested in January 2020 after he was caught driving a £130,000 ($172,000) Bentley Bentayga through the port of Dover with €6,500 ($7,300) in cash in a bag.
Convicted Rymarz not guilty of fraud
One of the reasons the 22-year-old was imprisoned was because he was linked to Wedso Ltd, a UK registered entity that failed to register for VAT and that also paid no corporation tax on its funds.
The court also found him guilty of laundering $2.6 million for the criminal gang between September 2018 and January 2020. The gang used a network of cryptocurrency ATMs as part of a fraud scheme after convincing victims of owing British authorities some money.
In a press release, Kent Police said no evidence was found that Rymarz was personally involved in these frauds, but investigations showed the extent of his involvement in the group which laundered the criminal money.
Spate of Bitcoin ATM scams globally
Bitcoin ATM scams have continued to spike, becoming a serious concern with law enforcement globally.
In November, the FBI issued a warning against fraudulent schemes similar to Rymarz’s associates. According to the FBI, scammers leverage online impersonation schemes, romance schemes, and lotteries, and after their ploy, they direct victims to crypto ATM, often one that advertises anonymity.
Th Bureau warns that instructions to use these anonymous crypto ATMs are “a significant indicator of fraud.”
