Two men who were allegedly linked in a $136,000 scam was arrested by Venezuelan authorities. The suspects utilized the Bitcoin peer-to-peer platform LocalBitcoins for their scheme.
LocalBitcoin scammers stole from around 36 victims as per the latest report from the Venezuelan authorities.
Posted on Instagram, Douglas Rico, CICPC’s director. He stated that the two men were 30-years-old Alan Renier Amora Blanco and 28-years-old Guillermo Alberto Bello Mendoza. The suspects are currently detained in the El Paso sector from the municipality of Guaicaipuro, Miranda state.
According to the CICPIC’s director,
“The criminal duo carried out transactions with 36 people to purchase this virtual currency through the LocalBitcoins page. They were told that the payments should be from legal accounts to their accounts, stealing the money, and then cutting off communication with the unwary users.”
The alleged fraudsters could have accounted for over 422 billion bolivares (approximately $136,221 as of press time). However, the authorities did not disclose how long the fraudsters ran their scam, nor have they received related accusations.
The authorities seized a router, two mobile phones, four crypto miner machines, and a computer during the operation.
Actions Against Scams
The FBI issued an alert last month directed to local businesses to be on the lookout for Bitcoin ATM scams.
The authorities have asked the businesses to display the warning signs in a “noticeable place or near the ATM.”
A scam almost succeeded when a man received a call from someone. The person made him believed that it was his son on the phone. He informed him that he had a car accident. He was then got thrown in jail and in need of bond money.
The man and his wife have been instructed to withdraw $9,000. They were then instructed to access a Bitcoin ATM, and then use the QR code provided by the scammer to deposit the cash.
The man stated that the shopkeeper where the ATM is, came up and asked them, “Can I help you?”
When the man replied that he needed to send money to a lawyer thru a Bitcoin ATM, the storekeeper informed him that he was being scammed. Hearing it, the couple called their son and confirmed it was a scam.
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