Two arrested after pensioner scammed out of six-figure crypto nest egg
- Reference: 1740051330
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/20/aberdeen_crypto_scam_arrests/
- Source link:
The case was brought to Police Scotland in July 2024 after a 75-year-old from Aberdeen lost "a six-figure sum" worth of cryptocurrency.
Officers from Police Scotland, assisted by England's West Midlands and South Yorkshire Police, arrested two men aged 54 and 36 in Coventry and Mexborough respectively on Tuesday, February 18.
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Police Scotland said both men were charged with crypto fraud offenses and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal, a public prosecutor in Scotland.
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"This operation demonstrates our commitment to ensuring people are protected from fraud," said David Williamson, detective sergeant at Police Scotland. "We will do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice. I would also encourage members of the public to be mindful of activity which appears fraudulent and to report this to police."
The Register asked the relevant forces for additional information about the case, including how the cryptocurrency was fraudulently lost, but neither provided any.
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Older people are often targeted by scammers of all flavors, and cases involving the theft of large sums are all too common.
Just a few months prior to the case in question, five individuals were arrested and charged after another six-figure sum – not in cryptocurrency – was stolen from a different elderly man, also in Aberdeen.
Police said the scam involved impersonating the fraud department of the victim's bank, a common tactic that financial institutions routinely warn customers about.
[5]Indian authorities seize loot from collapsed BitConnect crypto scam
[6]US accuses Canadian math prodigy of $65M crypto scheme
[7]Pastor's divine 'dream' crypto scheme indicted by Uncle Sam
[8]Five Scattered Spider suspects indicted for phishing spree and crypto heists
Over in the US, Feds said last year that [9]crypto scams are more costly to citizens than ransomware. They warned at the time that elderly people are often tricked into installing remote access software giving the scammers full control over the victim's finances. Other scams dupe unwitting investors into moving funds to "government agencies" for "safekeeping."
The FBI received more than 69,000 related complaints in 2023, the Feds said in September, the majority of which come from those aged 60 and over.
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Such [11]scams raked in $5.6 billion for cybercriminals in 2023, it added – a 45 percent year-on-year increase.
The FBI said another common tactic is to simply sell fake investment products. Liquidity mining scams, fake forex investments, and property schemes are all popular routes scammers take.
And then there are of course the brutal outliers like [12]Remy St Felix , who chose not to hide behind a keyboard, instead stealing cryptocurrency from elderly people with unconscionable violence. ®
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/18/india_bitconnect_seizures/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/04/math_prodigy_crypto_scheme/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/13/crypto_pastor_charged/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/21/scattered_spider_suspects/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/03/19/crypto_scams_cost/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z7dfrtFJjItPH3TcefDFnQAAANE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/10/crypto_scams_rake_in_56/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/us_convicts_vicious_cryptorobbing_gang/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
This is a fairly skilled crime - they will sound very plausible unless you happen to know otherwise.
A relative was targeted and gave me the phone so I had a chance to listen to their speil before I told them where to go.
"This is a fairly skilled crime"
I think most scammers, con artists, fraudsters etc are quite skilled at what they do, probably very skilled at catching the target off guard.
At a friend's wedding once, they had a sleight of hand magician wandering around doing tricks for guests' entertainment. A group of us were watching him do his act, all of us trying to catch him out, knowing exactly what he was doing and trying to spot the moment he did it. He somehow got my watch off my wrist, onto his own and even got the fiddly buckle done up perfectly and tucked in. None of us spotted him do it. I asked him after what he could do if he applied his skills out in public for bad, he said he could make a fortune and be confident of never being caught.
a sleight of hand magician
I once saw a clip of Penn & Teller doing the shell game, but with transparent glassware instead of the traditional opaque.
And - presumably due to all the the clever hand motion and other misdirections - it was still almost impossible to follow the ball around!
Re: a sleight of hand magician
I've seen Penn & Teller's act in Vegas.
Well worth it if anyone is looking for a show when there.
The trick is to watch from a distance and the side as they do their sleight of hand. Never be the focus of their attention. I watched a man bending a cheap fork by 'telepathy'. But from the side it was clear that he was waving the fork around and then very swiftly bending the tines with his other hand. It was so quick if you were in front of him you would probably never spot it. When Richard Feynman and his son watched Yuri Geller, it seems that the ability to bend spoons merely by stroking them eluded him.
A few years ago my father was phoned up and offered a iPhone 7 for a mere £695. Clearly a scam*.
*If anyone is willing to pay £695 for an iPhone 7 max, I have one that is in excellent condition, battery still claiming to have 86% of its capacity. Still got the box, somewhere.
Thinking that no-one could be that gullible is one of the first lines of defence broken.
Nice
That the Police are investigating electronic fraud, and actually catching some of them*. Now if they could catch the *%^$£%)ds who have scammed my pensions and savings companies out of over £100,000 that would be nice (i.e., knowing that they are no longer able to pursue their felonious little plans against my savings).
*Although the 'suspects' have to be treated as if innocent until proven guilty.
The bigger question is who scammed the pensioner into investing a six-figure sum into cryptocurrency in the first place.
"Other scams dupe unwitting investors into moving funds to "government agencies" for "safekeeping.""
How on Earth does that work? In America? Where no-one trusts the government further than they can throw them?
There are scams out there that are convincing, hard to detect, and even the smartest of people can be had. And then there are scams like this, which well frankly boggle the mind that anyone could be that gullible!?!