Ddos 
In a major coordinated law enforcement effort, the Spanish Guardia Civil, supported by Europol, and authorities from Estonia, France, and the United States, have arrested five individuals linked to a sprawling cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme responsible for laundering a staggering €460 million. This highly organized network defrauded over 5,000 victims worldwide, exploiting the allure of high-return crypto investments to siphon massive illicit gains.
The international action day led to:
- 5 arrests – 3 on the Canary Islands and 2 in Madrid
- 5 property searches – also split between the two regions
Europol played a critical role throughout the investigation, which began in 2023, by providing strategic analysis, operational coordination, and financial crime expertise. On the day of the takedown, Europol also deployed a crypto specialist directly to Spain to support local authorities.
According to Europol, the network’s leaders operated a multi-layered international scam, enlisting sales agents worldwide to solicit funds through bank transfers, cash withdrawals, and crypto-transfers. The criminal group allegedly set up a corporate and banking structure in Hong Kong, using payment gateways and user accounts under false identities to store, conceal, and transfer the illicit profits.
“Investigators suspect the criminal organisation of having set up a corporate and banking network based in Hong Kong… to receive, store and transfer criminal funds,” Europol states.
The sheer complexity of the operation reflects the sophistication of today’s online fraud schemes, often mimicking legitimate investment services while quietly redirecting victim funds into a tangled web of global money laundering.
According to Europol’s Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (EU SOCTA) 2025, online fraud has reached epidemic levels, posing a grave and expanding threat to the internal security of the European Union. Accelerated by AI-driven social engineering and ever-easier access to stolen data, online fraud is expected to outpace traditional organized crime in the coming years.
“Online fraud is an epidemic affecting EU citizens, businesses and public institutions alike. The scale, variety, sophistication and reach of online fraud schemes is unprecedented,” Europol warns.
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