Europol announced the takedown of a cryptocurrency investment fraud ring that laundered an immense amount of money. The international effort, codenamed Operation Borrelli, was carried out by the Spanish Guardia Civil with international support. This criminal syndicate is accused of laundering €460 million, which is the equivalent of $540 million. The sophisticated scam defrauded more than 5,000 victims from all across the world over several years. The investigation into this massive criminal syndicate first began back in the year of 2023, according to Europol.
These types of scams often follow a pattern known as cryptocurrency confidence or romance baiting, or pig butchering.
Scammers slowly build trust with victims over weeks or months, often through dating apps or friendly online chats. They then convince their victims to invest their money in fake cryptocurrency platforms that look completely legitimate. Once the money is deposited, it is moved across multiple accounts in a process that is called layering. This process makes it much harder for law enforcement authorities to trace the illicitly obtained cryptocurrency funds.
Europol has described the scale, variety, and sophistication of these online fraud schemes as being completely unprecedented. These types of scams are now on track to surpass other forms of serious and organized crime. The increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies has acted as a powerful force multiplier for these criminal activities. Criminals exploit legal loopholes and fragmented international laws, using synthetic identities to open accounts for their operations.
Many people are lured into scam compounds in Southeast Asia with promises of high-paying and lucrative job opportunities.
Once they arrive in these compounds, their passports are taken and they are forced to scam other people. This is done under constant threats of violence or by creating significant and inescapable debt for the victims. The United States Institute of Peace revealed the return on cyber scamming is estimated to exceed $12.5 billion. This annual amount in Cambodia alone amounts to half of the country’s entire formal gross domestic product. The Indian Embassy in Cambodia has a prominent warning on its website urging citizens to be extremely vigilant.
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