Europol has announced it has closed a wide-ranging European investigation over a criminal network that scammed its victims with crypto-currency and fake trading platforms. As of last October, Europol coordinated raids by the French, Spanish and Belgian police among other jurisdictions arrested the individuals involved in this network and seizing up to €1.5 million in illegal proceeds including up to €415,000 in crypto-currency. The criminal network is reported to have laundered up to €700 million.
The Maltese Police force also contributed to the investigation along with authorities from other jurisdictions including Cyprus, Bulgaria and Israel.
The criminal network used fake trading platforms to lure victims and convince them to deposit their money in these platforms with the promise of high returns. Victims were fed trading reports of high returns being generated from their deposits to convince them to deposit even more money. The criminal network used various websites, engaged in marketing and created fraudulent endorsements to project legitimacy.
Earlier this week, Europol coordinated an operation in which German and Swiss police shut down the a centralised crypto mixer that laundered up to €1.6 billion worth of bitcoin and crypto-currency.
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