European Union law enforcement agencies have joined forces to crack down on notorious cross-border crypto scammers.
Eurojust and Europol have been working with Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus, and Serbia to catch online investment fraudsters since July 2022.
Latest reports revealed that the scammers have modified their strategies and began to defraud unsuspecting crypto investors attempting to get better from year-long losses.
Europol Uncovers Tens of millions Of Euros Value Of Losses To Crypto Scams
Eurojust and Europol are working with digital businesses to stop European crypto scams. During their investigation, they exposed a criminal group that operates from call centers. The report revealed that German investors lost over $2.1 million to those online crypto scams.
In keeping with Europol, the scammers beguiled victims from different countries to speculate in fake digital asset investment schemes and rob them of their funds. This problem led to a joint operational task force for cross-border investigations inside the EU.
Europol said the scammers operated from 4 call centers in Europe. They lure their victims by offering high profits on small investments. The lucrative profits motivate the victims to speculate more funds, with which the scammers disappear. Given the variety of unreported cases, Europol suspects the loss might be in a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of euros.
The agency questioned 261 individuals (two in Cyprus, two in Bulgaria, three in Germany, and 214 in Serbia) and searched 22 locations inside the EU in the course of the investigation. They arrested 30 individuals and seized hardware wallets, vehicles, money, documents, and electronic equipment.
More Proactive Measures As Losses To Crypto Scams And Hacks Increase
There was an increasing rate of scam operations impersonating top businesses and government authorities within the digital asset industry. Recent reports revealed that scammers are posing as government officials to take advantage of vulnerable individuals on the lookout for means to get better lost funds after the FTX crisis.
Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) issued a press release warning crypto traders against face web sites and applications aimed to grab money from them. As well as, the DFR advised traders to conduct proper research before sending funds to crypto trading platforms. The agency cited a web site claiming ownership by america Department of State for instance.
In keeping with the DFR, the positioning claimed to be helping FTX customers get better their funds. With its claims, the web site accessed investors’ usernames and passwords. Subsequently, the DFR Administrator, T. K. Keen, urged crypto traders to guard their information diligently and never release sensitive data without conducting research.
Meanwhile, a December 26 report revealed the court sentenced executives involved in a South Korean digital asset exchange fraud to eight years in prison.
The officials participated in a $1.5 billion fraud that defrauded 50,000 investors, promising them 300% returns on investment. Six executives received their sentence, while three pleaded not guilty to some charges and would face the court soon.
Immunefi, a bug bounty, and security service platform, recently reported that the crypto industry lost $3.9 billion to scams in 2022.
CEO of Immunefi, Mitchell Amador, advised that proactive identification and addressing vulnerabilities would help protect the community and restore trust amongst investors.