Police in New Taipei, Taiwan arrests 15 suspects who were allegedly running a million dollar cryptocurrency scam. The group has reportedly cheated over 30 people in the country of nearly NT$250 million (equivalent to about $8.16 million).
According to the English-language local media Focus Taiwan report on Jan. 26, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) Li Chi-hsun addressed a press conference stating that they have encaptured fifteen suspects, including the alleged leader surnamed Lin in two separate raids carried out on Jan. 9 and Jan. 17.
The Scam
The suspects have reportedly promoted IBCoin, an Ethereum (ETH) ERC20 token, that according to its promotional material will serve as a means of payment for the adult entertainment industry. The scheme was allegedly publicized on Facebook and lured new victims with pictures of expensive cars and luxurious lifestyles.
Charged with fraud, the case has been handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. The article further elaborates that according to the CIB, the mastermind, Lin bought tokens at a price of NT$1.5 (equivalent to less than $0.05) per unit in 2017. However, he was asking his collaborators to sell the tokens at NT$50-NT$100 ($1.63-$3.27) per unit in lieu of high returns.
CIB adds that none of the victims received any return on their investment and the token has no real value since “there are currently no known companies that trade or deal in IBCoins.”
While the cryptocurrency scams are crippling the eco-system, law-enforcement agencies of various countries have managed to tighten their grip on such cases. Just earlier this month, Indian police arrested conspirators of a $70 million crypto scam, Money Trade Coin Scam. European police arrested the hacker responsible for stealing 10 million euro worth of IOTA.
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