An arrest and 12 house and computer searches, with the seizure of electronic devices and hundreds of thousands of euros in cryptocurrency.

It is the outcome of an investigation, coordinated by the Milan Public Prosecutor's Office and conducted by the State Police, in collaboration also with Europol and the Portuguese Police, which led to the identification of a transnational criminal network with bases in Italy, France and Romania dedicated to computer fraud and online cryptocurrency laundering.

An investigation that touched numerous regions and also Sardinia and in particular Cagliari and Nuoro , with investigators who managed to reconstruct the details of a fraudulent system that claimed victims throughout Europe.

"Rip Deal" is the name of the complex technical-IT scam that affects digital currency exchange operations.

This is the modus operandi , illustrated by the investigators: «Pretending to be representatives of an international investment fund, the suspects proposed to the victims the stipulation of economic agreements aimed at financing their entrepreneurial activities in the start-up phase . During "business" meetings - always organized in restaurants or luxury hotels - the unfortunate offended people were induced to move money in cryptocurrency through physical wallets (memory media similar to USB sticks intended to store the digital currency) or mobile app. First, however, the suspects made sure that the victims were in possession of a fund to be used to guarantee the operation: money that was also "virtual" but with an absolutely "real" and often huge equivalent value . With sophisticated technical-IT activities, control of the electronic wallets was taken away from the victims, who, only at the end of the meeting, realized that their wallets had been irremediably emptied".

The investigation started from the complaint of two Milanese entrepreneurs and lasted over a year.

The individual roles of the numerous members of the association have also been reconstructed : those who lured and met the victims, originally from the Balkans and mostly resident in France, those who were responsible for laundering the cryptocurrency - the "ring" was reconstructed thanks to analysis and tracing activities carried out by the Post Office with the support of Europol – are predominantly Asian, but permanently resident in Italy. The victims are Austrian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swiss and Italian.

(Unioneonline/lf)

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