EU law enforcement agencies have teamed up to crack down on notorious cross-border cryptocurrency scammers.
Eurojust and Europol have been working with Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus and Serbia since July 2022 to catch online investment fraudsters. Eurojust and Europol are working with digital businesses to stop crypto scams in Europe. During their investigation, they uncovered a criminal syndicate operating through a call centre. The report revealed that German investors lost more than $2.1 million to these online cryptocurrency scams.
According to Europol, scammers lured victims from countries including Germany, Switzerland, Australia and Canada to invest in fake crypto investment schemes and websites. The discovery eventually led to the creation of an operational task force aimed at conducting cross-border investigations.
Europol said the scammers were operating from four call centers in Europe. They lure victims by offering high profits for small investments. The fat profits prompt victims to invest more money, and the scammers disappear. Given the number of unreported cases, Europol suspects the damage could run into the hundreds of millions of euros.
During the investigation, 261 people (two in Bulgaria, two in Cyprus, three in Germany and 214 in Serbia) were questioned, 22 locations in the EU were searched and 30 people were arrested. Hardware wallets, cash, vehicles, electronic devices and documents were also seized. While scammers continue to impersonate government authorities and businesses, the crypto community maintains a proactive approach to undercut scammers through proactive warning announcements, preventive fixes for hackers, and educating the public.
