Ponzi schemes and dozens of gullible victims have been the ingredients of a major father-son bitcoin scam that has caused $14 million in damage. More than 100 people were defrauded by the men. The victims mainly came from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, some also from other EU countries.
The two men traded from January 2018 to mid-2019 via the trading platform “CMC – Crypto Market Consulting” and from December 2018 to mid-2020 via the platform “Minerva Trading Bot”, the Federal Investigation Department reports. They may have promised people high returns and tricked their victims into investing and investing money or bitcoins, making the invested capital available to professional “traders” to trade on crypto exchanges.
In addition, investors were promised a multi-level brokerage commission in a snowball system if they conducted successful brokerage among friends.
Anonymous tip led to father and son
The detectives tracked down the suspects through an anonymous tip or complaint dated November 19, 2019. The 58-year-old, who lived in the Baden district at the time of the crime, and his father were identified during a joint investigation by the Public Prosecution Service for Economic Affairs. Affairs and Corruption (WKStA), employees of the BK and the criminal investigation department of Lower Austria.
confession, court verdict
Based on a European arrest warrant, the 58-year-old was arrested in Bulgaria on October 21, 2021 with the cooperation of the target investigators of the Federal Criminal Investigation Department and the Bulgarian authorities and transferred to Vienna-Josefstadt Prison in Austria in November 2021. The 81-year-old was released by order of the WKStA. The two men confessed during their interrogation. Father and son were recently tried, they demanded four and a half years and 30 months probation respectively.
According to the BK, eight other people were also found who would have been involved in maintaining the snowball system. Extensive investigations are still being carried out into the suspected accomplices.
Source: Krone
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