Spain catches crypto investor crooks, seizes € 2.5million in luxury cars

Efe recently reported that the Spanish Defense Forces arrested a 45-year-old Portuguese man, one of Europe's biggest cryptocurrency scammers, in the Spanish city of Valencia (east). More than 2.5 million euros in assets were seized.

The accused has been charged with seven counts of fraud and money laundering for setting up a so-called cryptocurrency investment platform on the website and advertising it through various forums, radio broadcasts, sports competitions and even social unions.

The Western Guard said its aim is to attract the interest and investment of many Spaniards and Portuguese. The National Guard began investigating the arrests in August last year with the help of private guards.

The platform promises investors at least a weekly return of 2.5%, the return depends on your participation. Some investors even engage in deception to attract more investors.

Called the "Ponzi Scheme", it is a scam that tries to seduce victims into believing that their profits come from legitimate activities and that their income comes from other sources of scammed investors.

In this way, the human-rigged cryptocurrency investment is a major "hit", prompting the victim to invest more while attracting investors.

After a search, police identified several victims in Spain and discovered that the alleged perpetrator had committed crimes in Luxembourg, Switzerland and Portugal.

On December 2 last year, police raided three places, including the home of the accused, the company headquarters and a workshop where certain items were hidden. The Western National Guard has also closed many banks and shut down the platform and the websites that provide access to the pages used to support the platform.

In addition, the police seized around 20 luxury cars with a total value of more than 2.5 million euros.

According to Spanish media, the police also confiscated various information and electronic devices such as computers, tablets, cell phones and USB cryptocurrency wallets.

The proceedings were filed in the courts of Valencia, Spain. This work was carried out by the research team of the Valencia Defense Forces and the Crime Prevention Office in collaboration with Europol.