Eurojust coordinates action to halt cryptocurrency fraud of over 100 million euros across Europe

At the request of the Spanish and Portuguese authorities, Eurojust has coordinated a major operation across Europe to halt an elaborate investment fraud with cryptocurrencies. During an action day, five suspects were arrested, including the alleged main perpetrator behind the scam. Via an online investment platform, he defrauded over a hundred victims in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, among others, of at least EUR 100 million.

During the joint action day, five places were searched in both Spain and Portugal, as well as in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria, where bank accounts and other financial assets were also frozen. The alleged main perpetrator is suspected of large-scale fraud and money laundering.

The fraud had been running for several years, with the main suspect offering high returns on investments in various cryptocurrencies via professionally designed online platforms. Large parts of these investments were diverted mainly to bank accounts in Lithuania to launder the proceeds. Once victims tried to recover their investments, they were asked to pay additional fees, after which the website that was used for the fraud disappeared. Subsequently, the investors lost most or, in some cases, all of their money.

Eurojust supported the setting up of a joint investigation team (JIT) between the Spanish and Lithuanian authorities to assist with the information exchange on the fraud scheme. This fraud had been running since at least 2018, and covered 23 different countries, for instance, either as areas used to divert proceeds of the scam or as locations where victims were based.

Apart from the support to set up the JIT, Eurojust coordinated the joint action day and organised coordination meetings for its preparation. Furthermore, the Agency assisted with the execution of a European Arrest Warrant and European Investigation Orders and freezing orders.

Since September 2020, Europol has provided operational and analytical support to the national investigators. Europol joined the JIT and deployed a cryptocurrency expert to Portugal to assist Spanish and Portuguese authorities in seizing crypto assets on the action day.