Rzeszów. 600 people cheated on bitcoins. They lost over PLN 40 million

The investigation into this case was conducted in the Podkarpackie Branch of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Rzeszów by a team of prosecutors and officers, including: Board of the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime in Rzeszów.

As the head of the Podkarpackie branch of the National Prosecutor's Office, Prosecutor Rafał Teluk, said, the prosecutor's office accused a citizen Georgia Niko M. and a citizen Ukraine Liubov D. for participation in an organized criminal group that, using the Internet, led over 600 Polish citizens to unfavorable disposal of property worth significant value – over PLN 40 million.

As explained by prosecutor Teluk, the defendants allegedly misled the victims when purchasing them cryptocurrencies bitcoin through fake investment platforms available on websites.

The defendants were also accused of committing the crime of money laundering, consisting in preventing or significantly hindering the determination of the criminal origin, place of placement, detection, seizure or ordering the forfeiture of funds originating from the above-described practice.

– The criminal activity was based on the creation of technical facilities – a call center, intended for communication with the victims and persuading them through the so-called advisors, consultants or account managers, to install a program for remote computer operation, which allowed remote access to the victims' computer – explained Prosecutor Teluk.

The fraudulently obtained access to the victims' bank accounts enabled the defendants to remotely perform operations on their computers.

– In this way, a number of financial operations were carried out using foreign online currency exchange offices and investment exchanges, misleading the injured parties as to the possibility of making a profit, but also about the investment itself – noted the prosecutor.

According to the indictment, the perpetrators used methods of masking and anonymizing IP addresses in their criminal activities. They also used the so-called spoofing, i.e. they impersonated the entity initiating the connection, which was unrelated to the case. They also used the so-called SimBoxes, i.e. devices that use telecommunications infrastructure to anonymize telephone calls.

The prosecutor emphasized that the money they withdrew from the victims' accounts was transferred via immediate transfers, e.g. Elixir, to the accounts of other natural persons. These were most often other victims recruited at the same time by another representative of a given investment platform or transferred them directly to the so-called online transfers to stock exchanges or currency exchange offices enabling the exchange of market currency into cryptocurrency.

– These activities involved the use of bank card details issued for bank accounts, such as: card number, expiry date, CVV/CVC code, which data were extorted from the victims under the pretext of verifying data for the purpose of opening an account on the platform – explained Prosecutor Teluk.

He added that the perpetrators also used the so-called cryptocurrency mixers, which made it impossible to analyze the flow of these funds and the destination of their transfer.

– The perpetrators used manipulative techniques to achieve a financial goal at the expense of the victims – emphasized the prosecutor.

The defendants face 3 to 20 years in prison for the alleged acts.

The prosecutor assured that the indictment against Niko M. and Liubov D. does not end the activities of the prosecutor's office. The case is of a developing nature, and materials relating to yet unidentified persons operating within this criminal group and trading in financial instruments without the required authorization have been excluded from separate proceedings.