Key Takeaways
- UK police recover $22 million worth of crypto-assets from criminals
- Criminals duped unsuspecting victims using a clone website
- Crypto crimes on the rise in recent years
According to the report, the criminals lured unsuspecting users into depositing funds into a platform disguised as an online saving and trading platform.
Police also reported that the criminals were male and female aged between 23 and 25 years who have been arraigned on fraud and money laundering charges.
The partners were said to have deposited $9.5 million worth of ethereum in different hardware wallets.
Authorities subsequently discovered an additional deposit wo4rth $12.7 million in an online safe box, including the access code.
This development has become rampant, according to Police chief Joe Harrop.
He also noted that criminals are taking advantage of unsuspecting investors that they can defraud in digital currencies.
The anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies continues to be the source of concern for law enforcement authorities.
This is because criminals can easily steal money from unsuspecting victims and cart away with the loot without any traces.
Authorities globally are looking to combat this with increasing regulations applied globally.
In addition, Crypto exchanges typically provide an environment for criminals to convert their loot to fiat currencies and have increasingly begun implementing KYC and AML regulations.
Despite this, there are still high-profile cases of criminals hacking into exchanges and crypto platforms. The latest being the hack of DeFi protocol Poly Network where the hacker successfully took over $600 million.
Luckily, the hacker turned out to be a white hacker who subsequently returned the entire money to the DeFi platform.
This situation shows the fragile nature of the fast-growing cryptocurrency industry. The two criminals caught in the UK will likely be prosecuted and given jail time by the courts
Do you think crypto crimes are on the rise globally?
