More than £4m has been returned to the victims of a global cryptocurrency scam after specialist officers in Manchester acted on intelligence to track down two suspects – and police say £7m is yet to be claimed.
A 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman have been arrested for fraud and money laundering offences after Greater Manchester Police (GMP) received intelligence that those running the scheme had been in the city for a limited time.
In all 150 victims have come forward to request the return of their assets, 23 of whom have been verified and had their money returned.
The other 127 are still being investigated by the force and partners from around the world, and more victims have been encouraged to come forward.
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The arrests follow a report by MPs that warned the government was failing to do enough to stop “pernicious scammers” ripping off innocent consumers with fraudulent online adverts, impersonation scams and dodgy crypto investments.
In the Manchester raid last year, just over £16m in total was collected by officers after the suspects were arrested and investigators discovered an encrypted USB stick that contained roughly £7m.
A further £9.3m was recovered just few days later after police located a “Cryptograph safety deposit box, effectively an online safe, and the code to access it”, the force said.
The money was stolen from victims in the…
