Egyptian security forces recently arrested 29 people associated with the Hoggpool cryptocurrency investment scam. During the arrests, the police reportedly said 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 that quotes from a statement issued by police, the alleged masterminds behind 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 then proceeded to redistribute these between 9,965 digital wallets. The funds were later converted to BTC before being spirited out of the country.
While the police statement claimed that Hoggpool scammers had duped investors out of as much as $615,000 (19 million pounds), many in Egypt insist that the figure is much higher. Abdulaziz Hussein, a lawyer representing over a thousand victims from Cairo alone, is quoted in the report suggesting that as many as 800,000 people may have fallen for the scam.
Also Read: Africa Set To Move Forward As Leading Fintech Region With New Technologies.
Although the use or trading of cryptocurrency is forbidden in Egypt, the Hoggpool scam masterminds were reportedly able to lure victims by promising an unrealistically high return on investment. For instance, according to the CBS report, prospective 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 a high return on investment, the alleged scammers are also accused of using forged documents to lure unsuspecting victims. One such document is the so-called certificate of fact of good standing that was supposedly issued to Hoggpool by the Office of the Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Colorado.
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