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Spanish police arrest five over $542M crypto investment scheme

https://therecord.media/spain-europol-cryptocurrency-investment-scheme-takedown
71•PaulHoule•4h ago

Comments

miohtama•4h ago
The linked statement from Europol is some weeks old, so this is old news

https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/cryp...

Europol does not disclose it, but it is likely related to Myanmar pig butchering aka romance scam centers

https://thehackernews.com/2025/06/europol-dismantles-540-mil...

arealaccount•3h ago
> that laundered €460 million ($540 million) from more than 5,000 victims across the world.

So they’re averaging just over $100k per victim, I wonder what the spread is

e1g•3h ago
Almost certainly a couple of whales as they made the investigation happen.
PaulHoule•2h ago
When I first starting seeing 419 scams in the 1990s I wondered "Who would expect $10M to fall out of the sky?" As these target the intersection of "rich" and "no common sense", it must be "someone who already had $10M fall out of the sky" and could be a case for more taxation because these people aren't in a position to put money to work in a way that benefits themselves and society.
jacquesm•2h ago
'just'?

For some old person that could well be the difference between them having a normal life or becoming destitute. I really don't think that is 'just'.

Aurornis•2h ago
The ‘just’ was in reference to rounding to a close whole number, not a judgment on the relative size of the theft.
jacquesm•2h ago
Even with your explanation that's not how I would have read that sentence. But thank you for explaining it. I would have probably used 'a little' or 'a bit' to avoid the confusion.
johnisgood•1h ago
Does it matter as much though? 100k EUR at age 30 would set me for life, too, but I do not care if it is "just" for them. Many people got it better than me. If you would like to help me out, I would appreciate that a lot. I have BuyMeaCoffee account. Even as "small" (relative, because it is a LOT to me) as 300-500 EUR would make an enormous difference in my life (and some people around me, such as my grandma). I have MS, I am 30 years old, and I am unable to work. I would love to get a fully remote job, but I had severe anxiety and depression long before MS gave me brain lesions, so the situation is much worse now, and I have incontinence and immobility issues on top of all this. Plus I have a severe case of impostor syndrome, among a lot of other things I wish I didn't have.
tom_•2h ago
"Just over N" means "slightly more than N".
crote•3h ago
Ah. Reading the HN title I was expecting something closer to a memecoin / rugpull maker getting arrested, but I guess rolling up a large 2025s Nigerian Prince gang isn't bad either.

I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer for a proper crypto scam rollup.

miohtama•2h ago
It's mostly Chinese with suspected ties to the party. As long as Chinese Triads scam only foreigners, it is seen positive development for the party.

https://www.rfa.org/english/china/2025/01/13/china-hong-kong...

nickpinkston•3h ago
Maybe they just want their Royal Fifth like the SEC, etc. do.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_fifth

CBMPET2001•3h ago
If that were the case then they wouldn't have shut down the scheme and arrested the perpetrators
crote•3h ago
That is going to depend on the details, isn't it?

See for example the practice of civil forfeiture in the US, where the police is able to seize your property until you prove that it wasn't gained through crime. The proceeds go directly to the police department. So the more passers-by they harass, the sooner the "pennies from heaven" will fund their margarita machine! [0]

[0]: https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/phelps-county-seizing-sus...

vkou•3h ago
When the cops arrest someone stealing from a grocery, I too immediately assume that it's because they want one of the fifths he filched.
neom•1h ago
Has Ruja Ignatova largely gotten away with the OneCoin stuff? Don't hear much about it anymore. I googled around but not much since last year.
soyNsurf•25m ago
Next please: Morrocan trafficking rings.

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