Egyptian Police Arrest 29 Alleged Masterminds of Crypto Mining App Scam – Regulation Bitcoin News
It has been reported that Egyptian police have recently arrested 29 people linked to the Hoggpool cryptocurrency mining app scam. In addition to seizing 95 mobile phones and 3,367 SIM cards, police said domestic and foreign currency worth $194,000 was recovered during the arrests. According to a lawyer representing over 1,000 victims, as many as 800,000 people may have fallen victim to the scam.
88 digital currency wallets used to receive funds from investors
Egyptian police recently arrested 29 people believed to be the masterminds of the Hoggpool cryptocurrency investment scam, a report said. During the arrests, the police reportedly said that as many as 95 phones and 3,367 SIM cards were seized. Domestic and foreign currency worth $194,000 was also recovered, the report added.
According to a CBS News report citing a statement issued by police, the alleged masterminds of the cryptocurrency mining app scam used a total of 88 digital currency wallets to receive funds from investors. Once the funds were received, the criminal gang proceeded to redistribute them between 9,965 digital wallets. The funds were later converted to BTC before being driven out of the country.
While the police statement claimed Hoggpool fraudsters had conned investors out of as much as $615,000 (£19m), many in Egypt insist the figure is much higher. Abdulaziz Hussein, a lawyer representing over a thousand victims from Cairo alone, is quoted in the report as suggesting that as many as 800,000 people may have fallen for the scam.
Use of forged documents
Although the use or trading of cryptocurrency is prohibited in Egypt, the Hoggpool scam masters were allegedly able to lure victims by promising an unrealistically high return on investment. For example, according to the CBS report, potential investors were offered investment options that ranged from one with an initial outlay of $10 and a daily payout of $1, to one where the investor pays $800 to acquire a mining machine that pays out $55 per day.
In addition to the promises of high returns on investment, the alleged fraudsters are also accused of using forged documents to lure unsuspecting victims. One such document is the so-called certificate of fact of good standing allegedly issued to Hoggpool by the office of the secretary of state of the US state of Colorado.
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