- Alleged Crypto scammer detained in Spain
- Authorities charge him with money laundering and fraud.
In Spain, law enforcement agents have arrested a crypto scammer, Santiago Fuentes, who founded and operated a crypto trading firm that was used to defraud over 100,000 people allegedly.
The crypto company used for the alleged scam, Arbicorp, is renowned for developing Arbistar 2.0, which is a BOT powered investment platform. The alleged crypto scammer uses his platform to promise a high level of return to his investors, and in some cases, he went on to promise gains that were as high as 1% daily.
Before he was arrested in one of his homes on an island in Spain, he and his company have been alleged to raise more than $1 billion in investments from unsuspecting investors.
The authorities were alerted when Arbicorp chose to suspend the payment of all investor’s returns. The company froze all of its users’ funds and claimed that it had allegedly been overpaying profits to its investors for over 11 months.
The crypto investment company also made it known that it would be shutting down the BTC BOT because of technical issues that led to it miscalculating the profits of investors.
Alleged Crypto Scammer claims his company is not a Ponzi scheme
Fuentes has denied that his company could be a Ponzi scheme. He was arrested on the 21st of October, and his attempt to plead for goodwill from the authorities fell on deaf ears.
Through its agencies, the Spanish government has accused Fuentes of belonging to a criminal organization, perpetrating fraud, and carrying out money laundering.
Before his arrest, Fuentes had made several appeals and tried to reassure his investors that his company would make a refund soon. He made different videos on YouTube in which he told them that he was not running away, nor was he trying to hide. He said he made the video in his home, which he believes would assuage the investors’ fear.
However, some investors filed a report to the police, who started investigating the company for close to a month before raiding his four homes and effecting his arrest.
