Philippine National Police Busted a Crypto Scam arrested 12 leaders of this scam, who will be charged with human trafficking. The PNP, or Philippine National Police, rescued over 1,000 victims trapped in human trafficking. These people were forced to work rigorously for 18 hours a day, and obviously they were working for cryptocurrency scams.
The list of the leaders includes four Indonesians, a Malaysian, and seven Chinese nationals. The victims were lured into the scam through social media, as the advertisements on social media talked about high-paying jobs.
The Ring Busted
In this scam, a total of more than 1000 victims were rescued; the count now stands at 1090 individuals. They were lured into this scam by offering high-paying job offers, and the victims promptly accepted that offer. In the beginning, the individuals were offered free accommodations and flights.
The workers were mostly from Asia; the police rescued 389 Vietnamese, 5 people from Thailand, 171 from the Philippines, 40 from Nepal, 7 from Myanmar, and 2 from Taiwan. 307 from China, 143 from Indonesia, and 1 from Hong Kong. As all of them arrived, their passports were confiscated, and they were not allowed to interact with colleagues, as upon interaction, a sum was deducted from their salary, which also included extended breaks, and they were made to work for 18 hours.
In the cryptocurrency bust of the Philippines scam, the spokesperson of the PNP anti-cybercrime group, Michelle Sabino, said that they arrested 12 leaders and believe they are the operators of Colorful and Leap Group Co., a fraudulent entity. All of the leaders caught for human trafficking were brought before the Department of Justice in Manila for an inquest.
Sabino mentioned in the media that the leaders used to train the individuals and make them lure people to buy cryptocurrency and, along with that, perform romance scams through which they made people deposit funds in fake bank accounts through fake relationships. As usual, they target people from Canada, the United States, and Europe.
Romance scams in the crypto industry
Over time, scammers have changed their tactics and tried to scam people in other ways. Romance scams are growing in the industry, where fraudsters entice victims into these scams by building a relationship and later tricking them and taking all their funds.
The scams involve directly asking for money, giving deceptive investing advice, or providing malicious links, apps, and websites that wipe out the crypto wallets. A romance scam occurred in India, where a 60-year-old woman was defrauded of $30,000 in a crypto investment scam. She was approached on a matrimonial site.
