Police in New Taipei, Taiwan, have arrested fifteen suspects for allegedly running a cryptocurrency scam that earned them millions of dollars, English-language local media Focus Taiwan reports on January. 26.
According to the article, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) Li Chi-hsun said at a press conference that the fifteen suspects — together with the alleged leader surnamed Lin — are arrested in 2 separate raids carried out on January. 9 and Jan. 17.
The arrested suspects are reportedly charged with fraud, and therefore the case has been handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors office. The group allegedly defrauded over 30 individuals in the country of nearly NT$250 million (equivalent to about $8.16 million).
The suspects reportedly promoted IBCoin, an Ethereum (ETH) ERC20 token aiming to be a method of payment for the adult entertainment industry, consistent with its promotion. The alleged fraudsters reportedly conjointly publicized the scheme on Facebook, posting pictures of expensive cars and luxurious lifestyles to lure in new victims, Focus Taiwan reports.
The article explains that as per the CIB, Lin purchased the tokens at a value of NT$1.5 (equivalent to less than $0.05) per unit in 2017. Lin then allegedly asked his collaborators to sell the tokens at NT$50-NT$100 ($1.63-$3.27) per unit and promise high returns.
According to the report, the CIB said that no victim has ever seen any return on their investment and therefore the token has no real value since “there are presently no known firms that trade or deal in IBCoins.”
As Top Market Group recently reported, seven people that allegedly managed a fraudulent crypto investment scheme are indicted in Taiwan. As per a report, citing native prosecutors, the defendants were charged with the violation of Taiwan's Banking and Multi-Level marketing supervision acts.
Also, news broke earlier this month that Indian police have arrested an associate of a group accused of conducting a crypto scam involving 5 billion rupees (about $70.5 million).
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