Spanish police arrest five over $542M crypto investment scheme

https://therecord.media/spain-europol-cryptocurrency-investment-scheme-takedown

79•PaulHoule•6mo ago

Comments

miohtama•6mo 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•6mo 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•6mo ago

Almost certainly a couple of whales as they made the investigation happen.

PaulHoule•6mo 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•6mo 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•6mo ago

The ‘just’ was in reference to rounding to a close whole number, not a judgment on the relative size of the theft.

jacquesm•6mo 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•6mo 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_•6mo ago

"Just over N" means "slightly more than N".

crote•6mo 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•6mo 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•6mo ago

Maybe they just want their Royal Fifth like the SEC, etc. do.

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

CBMPET2001•6mo ago

If that were the case then they wouldn't have shut down the scheme and arrested the perpetrators

crote•6mo 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...

CBMPET2001•6mo ago

I'm not sure how Spanish criminal law works, but even if it does work like in the US, the press release doesn't actually mention any seized funds or property at all

vkou•6mo 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.

nickpinkston•6mo ago

This actually does happen for certain crimes in racketeering cases, and SEC/DOJ often run closer to the latter (ie small token fines, which are just the cost of doing business).

The difference being that SEC/DOJ are more worried that more than token fines to big corporations would cause political blowback for the agency and their careers.

The current collusion of this gov't with wealthy crypto interests seems like both of these: political blowback and direct insider kickbacks (TrumpCoin, TACO trade, etc.)

neom•6mo 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.

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