Police in England say they have recovered £16 million ($21.67 million U.S.) in stolen Ethereum (ETH) and, so far, have returned the digital assets to 23 people who fell victim to a cryptocurrency scam.
Police in Manchester, England, who led the investigation, say they are working to return the remaining seized Ethereum to another 127 victims of the scam.
A man and a woman, aged 23 and 25, were arrested on suspicion of fraud and money laundering offences related to a cryptocurrency trading fraud.
A police spokesperson said a total of 150 people based in the United Kingdom, U.S., Europe, China, Australia and Hong Kong had deposited money into what they thought was an online savings and cryptocurrency trading service.
However, the people behind the service had waited until a significant amount of money was deposited and then shut down the website, transferring the collected funds into their own accounts.
Officers received intelligence that those running the scheme were based in Manchester and raids were carried out.
An encrypted USB stick containing nearly $10 million U.S. of stolen Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin (BTC), was seized, while a further $12 million U.S. in cryptocurrency was located in an “online safe” days later.
Urging anyone who believes they were targeted by the scam to get in touch, Manchester police said: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
