Japan Police Unearths Crypto Scam Worth $2 Million, Arrests 12 People

Yet another crypto scam erupts out of Japan worth $2 million as the Tokyo and Hyogo police have recently arrested 12 people in this regard, in a joint investigation. Last week, the Japan Times was the first to report about this scam which involves a Tokyo-based marketing executive aged 40 who was the victim by falling prey to a group of conmen who offered ¥200 million in cash in exchange for Bitcoin equivalent to ¥190 million.

The deal took place last year in July 2017 in a hotel where the accused men gave the executive a suitcase containing ¥200 million in cash, most of which turned out to be fake. In return, the executive is said to have transferred his BTC holdings to a wallet of an exchange operator in Yokohama. However, during the investigation, it was found that the accused men falsely claimed that they didn’t receive the digital currency.

But is has been found out that just two days later after the deal took place, the accomplice of the accused men helped them to convert the received BTC token into ¥174 million in cash, excluding the commission. The Japan Times says that all the seven men attending the meeting in the hotel were in their 20’s and have been arrested by the police last week.

Another report by the Tokyo Reporter shows five more suspects involved in the case with 24-year-old Kenta Higashi who is alleged to be the mastermind of this operation. During the investigation, the victim admitted that he accepted the offer in order to circumvent the commission while swapping from crypto-to-fiat at an exchange.

Japan is the pioneer and the most crypto-friendly nation across the globe. However, it has been found that such direct transactions and trade exchange are quite a lot common in Japan. The Japanese regulatory are fighting tooth-and-nail in order to stop illicit activities like money-laundering, hacking and other crypto crimes.

In response to the existing investigation, some crypto enthusiasts took it to social media to express their views. Chen Pi on a social forum commented: “Crypto-crimes is nothing new, with every economy there comes illegality. This does not mean that cryptocurrency and blockchains are illicit. I see that cybercrimes have increased at disturbing rate. Police are taking strict action on these criminals who will help people keep faith in the digital currency and the future.”

Another crypto enthusiast, Andre Nate said: “Since Japan is the epi-center of crypto-currency. This was an amazing move from the Japanese cops, but will this bring justice to all those who have lost money; both fiat as well BTC.”