Crypto scam arrest

A MAN has been ar ‐rested in Palma on suspicion of being be‐hind an international organisation that swindled more than €100 million out of over 3,000 people all over the world with fake cryptocurrencies.

The suspect was de‐tained as part of an operation by the Guardia Civil in the Balearic Islands and the Basque Country following requests by police forces in several countries.

The Spanish authori‐ties traced a series of money transfers made by crypto investors and located the recipi‐ent at a company based in Palma. The funds were then re ‐portedly transferred to other countries out‐side the EU.

Police investigators also discovered that the members of the organisation targeted potential victims through aggressive marketing strategies on well ‐ known web ‐sites, cold calling and text messages and ad‐verts in newspapers, among other chan ‐nels, promising risk ‐free investments with high returns.

The gang then al ‐legedly drew up con ‐tracts with investors of between €250 and €1,000 in exchange for non ‐ existent cryp ‐tocurrencies, creating fake websites with graphs and charts sup‐posedly showing the evolution of the in ‐vestments.

The suspects then reportedly continued contacting the victims to encourage them to invest more money and requesting more funds to pay for taxes and other expenses.