2 Finns lose €4.6m in cryptocurrency scam

Two Finnish victims have lost about 250 bitcoins worth about 4.6 million euros after being scammed into making investments on online crypto investment platforms, Police said in a press release on Friday.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has carried out a large fraud investigation involving Finnish victims who were scammed into investing in cryptocurrency on online platforms and promised considerable interest on their investments.

By tracing cryptocurrency transfers, the police discovered that the cryptocurrency invested by the victims was not actually sold or invested but transferred to money laundering networks to disguise its origin.

The victims did not receive the profits they had been promised, and the fraudsters had no intention of paying the victims in the first place.

“The Finnish victims thought that they had invested money on online investment platforms trading in Bitcoin. The crypto investment sites contained fake charts showing how investments had grown. One of the victims has told the police that, according to the website, they could expect profits of up to tens of millions of euros. The victims were subsequently contacted from the sites and informed that the cryptocurrency they had invested, as well as their profits, were 'stuck' and that they would have to transfer more bitcoins to release their funds and profits,” said Head of Investigation, Detective Chief Inspector Hans Fagerström of the National Bureau of Investigation.

The criminal investigation has established that such investment scams have been committed from abroad. One person has been remanded in the case on suspicion of aggravated fraud.

“We have cooperated with a number of international partners during the investigation and have been able to trace and locate some of the funds invested by the victims. The funds have been partly used for a lavish lifestyle of one of the suspects,” Fagerström added.

The case is referred to the Prosecution District of Western Finland for consideration of charges on Friday.