Arrested in Tenerife for a fraud through international investments in cryptocurrencies

The fraud, committed through a Ponzi-type scam, amounts to Euros 378,750 and has affected at least 26 people.

The agents have made four searches in the company’s offices, located in the towns of Adeje, Arona and Candelaria, where they have intervened three high-end vehicles, abundant documentation and electronic devices.

Agents of the Guardia Civil and the National Police have arrested the chief executive of a company based in the Canary Islands that allegedly defrauded through investments in cryptocurrencies using a Ponzi-type scam.

Likewise, four searches have been carried out in offices and homes located in different parts of the island of Tenerife, specifically in the towns of Adeje, Arona and Candelaria. Three high-end vehicles, abundant documentation and electronic devices have been intervened in the operation, and numerous bank accounts in the name of the investigated persons have been blocked.

The investigation began last September, when three victims filed their respective complaints of fraud. At the same time, the agents obtained information on suspicious financial activities received from central units of the Civil Guard and the National Police. Later, the agents detected another 23 affected. As a result of the analysis of all the information, the existence of this Ponzi-type scam, related to investments in cryptocurrencies, was found.

A Ponzi scam is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying investors interest on their own money invested or on the money of new investors. This scam consists of a process in which the profits obtained by the first investors are generated thanks to the money contributed by themselves or by other new investors who are deceived by the promises of obtaining, in some cases, large profits. The system works only if the number of new victims grows.

In this case, the research has focused on a company that offered software that allowed programming investment strategies in cryptocurrencies and trading 24 hours a day without interruption. At the same time, the company had established a system for channeling money into cryptocurrencies, through digital wallets, which allowed the control of investments made by the company’s clients to be distracted.

The investigated company issued a statement informing clients of the freezing of various investment software with the impossibility of recovering the capital invested by clients. Faced with this situation, and with the investigators counting on the fact that the company could be diverting a large part of the money invested by its clients for their own benefit, the chief executive of the company was arrested.

Citizen participation, fundamental is this type of crime

To resolve investigations of this nature, citizen participation in the prevention and detection of this type of fraud is essential in order to have first-hand all the information about these organizations.

The State Security Forces and Bodies recommend, to anyone who may feel harmed by a pyramid scam, to contact the National Securities Market Commission to warn other possible investors and, at the same time, with the Forces and State Security Bodies in order to file a complaint.