The FBI Arrested 26 Israelis on Suspected Complicity in a Cryptocurrency Fraud Scheme

The FBI teamed up with the Israeli Police to apprehend 26 individuals suspected of being involved in a bitcoin fraud operation.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Israeli Police arrested 26 individuals on suspicion of crimes connected to the employment of digital currency. While the operation took place in Tel Aviv, the victims are all foreign nationals.

Retaining The Offenders

According to a local source, the FBI and the Israeli Police’s Tel Aviv district fraud section launched an investigation into crooks who defrauded victims of tens of millions of dollars. In a recent combined investigation, the two agencies detained 26 individuals accused of money laundering in connection with digital FX trading.

Local authorities said that they got information from the US that a gang of Israelis was duping hundreds of individuals into a cryptocurrency investment scam. Rather than delivering the expected service, the crooks defrauded the victims of millions of dollars. Following the inquiry, police arrested the bad actors overnight and confiscated digital storage devices and laptops as evidence.

According to the statement, all of the detained are central Israeli citizens. The officials declined to disclose their identities or the business for which they work. They did, however, advise that the procedure would begin with two of the suspects, both males in their thirties, who will appear this week in Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court. On the other hand, the victims of the fraud are Americans.

Additionally to the arrests in Israel, the article said that local law enforcement authorities had lately conducted similar operations in other nations across the world.

Additional Arrests of Cryptocurrency Fraudsters

Earlier this year, one of the hottest issues in the digital asset sector was the infamous trading platform Thodex. Nearly 400,000 customers of a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange were locked out of their accounts in April, preventing them from withdrawing their money. For many days, the platform’s website was down, and rumors indicated that its CEO left the country with up to $2 billion.

Following the investigation, the Turkish Police arrested 62 individuals suspected of involvement in the fraud, including six who were imprisoned. Among them were Faruk Fatih zer’s brother and sister. Thodex’s leader, on the other hand, remains at large.

previously revealed in June, a similar arrest happened in China as well. The Chinese authorities arrested 1,100 individuals at the time for allegedly using digital assets to evade law enforcement officers. Additionally, the investigation that followed resulted in the breakup of 170 criminal groups.

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