Europe arrested 15 in massive cryptocurrency fraud raid: $ 1 million confiscated

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On November 13, the European Union agency announced for cooperation in the field of criminal prosecution (Europol) that it successfully acted against a criminal network that has been involved in online fraud via call center. The network was distributed all over Europe.

According to Europol, the operation was carried out on January 11, 2023 after an investigation that began in June 2022 at the request of the German authorities. Together with the national authorities of the other countries, Europol carried out raids at 22 different places between Bulgaria, Cyprus and Serbia. This led to the arrest of 15 people, 14 of them in Serbia and one in Germany.

Europol confiscates cryptocurrencies worth $ 1 million in physical items

In addition to the arrests, the authorities also confiscated 3 physical items with around $ 1 million in cryptocurrencies and around € 50,000 in cash. They also confiscated 3 vehicles, electronic devices, backups with important information and other documents. The investigation continues because it is assumed that the criminal network has more call center than was searched.

According to Europol, the criminal network carried out a cryptocurrency pyramid system through which they attracted victims by offering "apparently extraordinary" cryptocurrency investments with the promise of large and guaranteed profits. The network was able to take hundreds of millions of euros with the operation of only 4 call centers. However, many victims decided not to report to the law enforcement authorities, which made it difficult to quantify the damage.

The scammers' procedure was to first demand small sums of money, typically in the three -digit range, to win the trust of their victims. As soon as an intimate relationship was established, they convinced the victims to transfer higher amounts each time the fraudsters had enough to end communication. According to Europol, the criminal network has stolen at least $ 2 million in Germany.

The use of cryptocurrencies in criminal activities

As reported by Europol, the agency works hand in hand with several international authorities to "be one step ahead of those who abuse crypto-assets to commit crime and wash money".

However,

Europol stated that although cryptocurrencies have become attractive for criminals due to their data protection and decentralization features for criminals, their use in criminal activities compared to criminal activities, in which Fiat money is involved, constitutes a tiny fraction:

The use of cryptocurrencies for illegal activities only seems to be a small part of the entire cryptocurrency economy, and it seems comparatively smaller than the amount of illegal funds associated with traditional finances

governments worldwide increasingly pay attention to how cryptocurrencies are used for criminal activities. An example of this is the government of the United States, which has been carried out against certain cryptocurrency platforms, which have been found that they facilitate criminal activities. The most obvious case is the cryptocurrency mixer "Tornado Cash", which was sanctioned by the US government because of its use by criminals to cover up their transactions, but other centralized stock exchanges had to deal with the authorities for similar reasons.

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