According to Policia Nacional, the four accused arrested by Spanish police for their alleged role in a $15 million crypto scheme are Argentine, Spanish, and Italian nationals aged between 23 and 36. They persuaded the victims to transfer their bitcoin to them by promising high returns. The authorities reported that around 380 Bitcoin were scammed by the alleged fraudsters, which amount to approximately $15 million at the current price. The victims began to suspect that the four were running a pyramid scheme when they did not deliver on their promises.
Scammers relied mostly on verbal promotion.
According to the report, the scammers did not have a website or a massive platform to attract people, relying mostly on verbal promotion. The fraudsters told their victims that their bitcoin was going to a company, which did not exist. However, the police did not reveal the name of the fake company. The police report reveals that one of the fraudsters hid in Cuenca due to pressure from several victims who threatened to report him to the police.
Police report there could be many other victims.
The police report stated, “once detained, the alleged fraudster was placed at the disposal of the investigating court acting as a guard in that city. The rest of the detainees were released after being heard in a statement at the Alicante police station. In another Spanish crypto Ponzi scheme, the Arbistar case victims’ defense lawyer said in December 2020 that the scam had duped 32,000 families with at least 93.4 million euros ($113.55 million) in losses. Carlos Aránguez, a Spanish lawyer who represents 130 victims, pointed out that the magnitude of the disaster provoked by the Arbistar Ponzi scheme qualifies as the “biggest computer scam” in Spain.
