The UK's Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has returned more than £4 million to victims of an international cryptocurrency scam. The police noted that about £7 million more will be returned to their rightful owners.
According to a recent report, the GMP had returned part of the over £16 million seized from the scam operators by its officials during a raid in July last year. The police had arrested the scammers, a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman during the raid.
Based on the statements given by the GMP, unsuspecting investors from different parts of the world, including the UK, US, Europe, China, Australia and Hong Kong, had made crypto deposits into the fraudulent platform.
The scammers had assured victims that they were investing in an online savings and trading service using the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network. However, once the platform had attracted a substantial amount of deposits, they quickly shut down the service and transferred the tokens to their accounts.
Upon receiving intelligence that the scammers had been in Manchester for a short period, the GMP tracked them down and recovered an encrypted USB stick containing about £7 million worth of stolen Ether. The police later recovered an additional £9.3 million from a Cryptograph safety deposit box, effectively an online safe.
The suspects were immediately arrested for fraud and money laundering charges. However, they were subsequently released under investigation.
Over £7 Million Still Left Unclaimed
The police noted that out of the 150 victims that had come forward to request the return of their assets, about 23 were verified and refunded. The other 127 victims are still being investigated by the GMP and other international partners.
The GMP has encouraged victims to step forward and get back their funds, as it still has over £7 million if the seized funds its custody to give back to victims.
Crypto-based Crimes on the Increase
Speaking on the growing number of crypto-related scams, Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop, from GMP's economic and cybercrime unit said, " This type of crime is increasing across the globe and criminals are getting savvier by finding ways to exploit the trend, in ways even the most experienced users can't anticipate."
Harrop further cautioned investors to conduct their research before investing in any crypto platform. He said, "Anyone involved in these cryptocurrency and trading services is urged to take extreme caution and do a lot of research as there are still huge risks… If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
Law enforcement agencies from different parts of the world have continued to up their efforts in tracking down criminals who utilize crypto assets for their illegal operations.
Earlier in July 2021, the MET police had confiscated over £180 million worth of crypto linked to money laundering.
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