Greater Manchester Police in the United Kingdom claimed it had successfully returned $5.4 Million to victims of an international cryptocurrency scam that amounted to more than $20,000,000.
The funds were taken from a USB, which police discovered in July 2021. At the time, the USB contained approximately $9.5 million of Ethereum.
According to the Police, $5.4 million was returned by 23 victims who were verified. Another 127 claims have been reported and are being investigated by international and local law enforcement.
As more claims are confirmed, another $10 million will be paid to victims.
The scam
Police arrested two individuals for money laundering and fraud after they discovered the USB that led to the recovery funds. After receiving information that the scammers were in Manchester, police tracked down the pair.
People around the world were lured into the scam by having to deposit large sums of money, sometimes even their entire life savings, into what they thought was an online trading and savings service on the Binance Smart Chain.
Police seized $12.7 million more from a “cryptograph safe deposit box” after the pair were arrested.
Scams on the rise
The UK Treasury Committee recently released which highlighted an “alarmingly high” level of fraud and other scams in the country.
“For too many years, pernicious scammers act with impunity, ripping off innocent customers with fraudulent online ads, impersonation scams and dodgy cryptocurrency investments.
This report called on the UK government for greater efforts to curb these fraudulent activities.
We are calling today on the Government to make more progress on this issue and take swift action against the growing fraud epidemic.
The Committee stated that these rogue elements targeted people through advertisements on social media, which do not require verification.
The report was confirmed by tech giants Meta and Google, Twitter, TikTok (Amazon), Microsoft, and Meta. They said that they would only allow financial service adverts on their platforms if authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority.
