A Balearic company funneled a scam of at least one hundred million euros to over 3.000 people worldwide with investments in false cryptocurrencies. The Guardia Civil has arrested in Palma a person for this huge millionaire fraud, whose money was transferred to countries outside the European Union. There are also several defendants in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia or Israel, which was the final destination of the defrauded money.
The Civil Guard investigation began in the Basque Country after receiving a complaint in Álava from a person who claimed to be the victim of a cryptocurrency scam. The investigations of the investigators of the armed institute determined that this alleged fraud would have been perpetrated through a company headquartered in Palma.
Subsequent inquiries served to find out that from this company in Palma were carried out numerous transfers to countries outside the European Union. This was the final destination of the money obtained after the fraud committed on investors in fake cryptocurrencies.
Members of the organization recruited potential victims by means of very aggressive marketing strategies on well-known websites. They also resorted to telephone calls, advertisements in newspapers or SMS messagesamong others. In all of them, they promised high returns on invested capital without, supposedly, assuming the least risk.
After capturing the supposed client, the organization would formalize the contract with its victims to carry out the investments in non-existent cryptocurrencies. This ranged from 250 to 1,000 euros. The organization provided them with access to a web page, where they could consult the benefits of their investment with false graphs created for this purpose. In this way they tried to give the appearance of solvency and legality, which was far from reality. Nevertheless, they generated confidence in the many people affected.
From this point on, investors received constant telephone calls. In these conversations, the bogus brokers reported to them the supposedly huge profits they had made and encouraged them to continue with the non-existent investments. To the point that they even convinced some victims to deposit all their savings there.
The unpleasant surprise for the investor appeared when he tried to recover his investment or the profits obtained. The false brokers they asked them for more money to be able to withdraw the funds. For this they used different excuses, such as the payment of taxes or the closing of annual balance sheets. In this way, a second deception took place.
As a result of the operation, Guardia Civil investigators have managed to dismantle the scheme and locate more than 3.000 victims of this fraud with investments in fake cryptocurrencies worldwide. A hundred of those affected are located in the national territory and many of them were completely unaware that they were being scammed.
In the so-called ‘Operation Mandoa’ cybercrime specialists from the Civil Guard of the Balearic Islands, the Basque Country and the Technical Unit of the Judicial Police in Madrid. All the actions have been directed by court of Instruction number 3 of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Alava).
Recommendations
Before this cryptocurrency fraud of colossal proportions, the Guardia Civil has launched a series of recommendations to avoid falling into this type of scams. Thus, in February 2021 the National Securities Market Commission and the Bank of Spain warned of the “high risk of investments in cryptocurrencies due to their extreme volatility.”
In this regard, the armed institute advises to be wary of promises of a large profit or a guaranteed return without any risk above market value. It is also urged to be wary of unsolicited investment offers received from the internet via email or cell phone.
Another piece of advice involves researching before investing. In this regard, researchers recommend looking for opinions and reputation of websites before making these investments. Also urge to be wary of newly created pages and to check the address of this one, as it often contains intentional misspellings to camouflage its origin under the appearance of a known firm. In addition, as an initial premise, not to make contributions to platforms whose headquarters are located in tax havens. If, despite these risks, one wishes to make this type of investment, the Civil Guard recommends citizens to consult with official state and European regulatory bodies. These periodically publish the websites that operate with irregularities.
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