Spain ends notorious crypto scam with over $110m lost to hackers

Police in Spain have dismantled a criminal group responsible for widespread bitcoin fraud. The perpetrators stole more than €100 million ($110 million) in total from over 3,000 victims located all over the world.

A regional news organization said that the Guardia Civil, Spain’s oldest law enforcement department, investigated a criminal organization that allegedly defrauded hundreds of thousands of individuals out of around 110 million euros by having them invest in cryptocurrencies that did not exist. 

Following receiving a complaint from a resident of the province of Alava who claimed to have been the victim of crypto fraud, the Alava police department initiated an investigation that was given the codename Mandoa.

The inquiry concluded that a company headquartered in Palma de Mallorca received these fraudulent investments. On the other hand, the claimed firm conducted many transfers to countries not members of the European Union. 

The Guardia Civil has proven that group members recruited victims into their plan by promising them big profits with little risk over the phone, in newspaper advertising, or by text message. These methods included using the telephone. 

After completing the formalities of the contract with the customers and collecting the payments, the criminals gave the customers access to a website where they could examine false graphs to determine whether or not their investments were profitable.

The perpetrators also used phony brokers to maintain communication with victims so that they might persuade them to continue investing in the scam. 

On the other hand, the gang did not comply with the people’s demand to acquire a portion of their earnings. Instead, they issued orders to transfer more funds using pretexts such as completing yearly balance sheets or paying taxes.

On Mallorca, the authorities have only managed to take one person into custody on suspicion of belonging to the criminal organization thus far.