Agents of the National Police together with the Geneva Canton Police have dismantled several online platforms for false investments in cryptocurrencies with which they had allegedly scammed more than 150 people.
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The investigation has been initiated following an international request for collaboration from the Swiss police authorities, who detained the leader of the organization on a trip to that country.
In the Malaga town of Estepona, an entry and search has been carried out at the home where the leader lived and 21 vehicles and a yacht have been seized.
The investigation began last August after receiving an international request for collaboration from the Geneva Canton Police to locate the properties and execute an entry and search at the home of the person responsible for several online platforms. false investments in cryptocurrencies.
Through these platforms he managed to defraud more than 150 victims in Switzerland and many others in other countries, which generated profits of millions of euros that have allowed him to enjoy a high standard of living in Spain.
The person responsible for these platforms was arrested on a trip to Switzerland by the Swiss authorities, although he lived with his partner in the Malaga town of Estepona.
As a result of this request for collaboration, efforts were made to locate and identify all the properties that both owned in Spain, presumably acquired with the profits from the activity.
After the appropriate checks, last October, the entry and search was carried out at the address where both lived in Estepona and their properties were seized, highlighting the intervention of 21 vehicles and a yacht.
Regarding the false cryptocurrency investment platforms, the researchers found that they made aggressive use of internet marketing strategies, even using the image of well-known people stating that they have obtained great benefits from investing in cryptocurrencies on the platform.
Once the attention of the victims was captured, they began a second phase in which a supposed broker persuades the victim until he gains their trust and thus gets them to make the greatest number of investments possible under the promise of high profitability in a short time.
The scammers designed false pages where the victim can access to consult the alleged evolution of her finances, with figures invented by them.
Later, when the victim wanted to recover her investment, contact with the supposed broker was lost, or, with various excuses, they tried to get more money from the victim until she realized the fraud.
Furthermore, in the last phase of the deception, they tried to obtain more money from the victims by offering the scammers the services of a fake law firm under the promise of being able to recover everything invested plus the interest generated. ■