The Mossos d’Esquadra They investigated last year some 3,500 complaints linked to cryptocurrencies, a figure that represents a 30% increasemostly for scamsand they acted before 600 cyber attacks in Catalonia, in many of which a ransom with virtual currencies was demanded.
These are data given this Thursday by the chief commissioner of the Mossos d’Esquadra, Eduard Sallentat the inauguration of the VI conference on organized crime, held at the Public Security Institute of Catalonia (ISCP), which this year focused on cryptocurrencies and new criminal paradigm.
In Spain as a whole, there are 17,000 victims of scams linked to cryptocurrencies
Sallent has detailed that during 2022 the Mossos investigated some 3,500 complaints linked to cryptocurrencies, maintaining an annual increase of 30% stable in recent years, to which we must also add the “black figure” of cases that do not emerge, which is convinced that it is “much higher” than in other criminal areas.
In 2022, the Mossos investigated 60,048 cases linked to the Internet, which represents 12% of all their investigations
Most of these complaints are for scams and false investments, since criminals take advantage of the lack of knowledge of some investors attracted by the promise of obtaining large profits in a short time with cryptocurrencies and are victims of deception. In fact, Sallent has detailed that in the set of Spain Are accounted for 17,000 victims of scams linked to cryptocurrencies.
In addition to scams, in the field of cryptocurrencies there are also complaints about extortions or for him password theft.
In this sense, Sallent has revealed that last year the Mossos intervened in 600 cyberattacks in Catalonia – the most notorious was the one suffered by the Hospital Clínic – and that in most of them the criminals in this type of “modern piracy” cases “They asked that the ransom for the kidnapped data be paid with cryptocurrencies.
The chief commissioner has explained that although many criminal gangs use cryptocurrencies -especially for laundering-, they have not made virtual money the only way in their transactions, since the speculation that surrounds them generates uncertainties, ups and downs and bankruptcies that could put your investments at risk.
“Huge” black figures
According to Sallent, during 2022 the Mossos d’Esquadra investigated a total of 60,048 incidents linked to the Internet, which already represents 12% of all their investigations, where, he insisted, the black figure is “enormous.”
The chief commissioner has also pointed out that, in the area of crimes linked to the Internet, the annual increase stands at 30%, to the point that cyber scams They are beginning to replace theft as one of the main criminal activities.
For this reason, he has insisted on the importance of the Mossos increasing their training and specialization in this type of crimes and that enhance the cyber patrolto adapt and have the capacity to respond to new crime challenges in the virtual sphere.
As an example of the importance of these criminal networks linked to virtual currencies, Sallent recalled the Forex casestarted in 2018, the main blow by the Mossos to a cryptocurrency criminal network that allowed the dismantling of an international organization that earned 400 euros every minute and 50 million every three months.
For his part, the head of the Territorial Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos, the mayor Oscar Macarellaexplained to journalists that the lack of homogeneous regulation and the high volatility of virtual currencieswith very rapid fluctuations, along with the difficulty in following the trail of cryptocurrencies, are an “ideal scenario” for criminal organizations to move capital.
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The mayor has encouraged the victims to report these scams, in order to recover their capital and be able to pursue the criminals, who have scammed them in most cases through websites that offer high profitability “with all the falsehood and bad intentions.”
According to the mayor, the Mossos are prepared to face the fight against cryptocurrency scams, although he has acknowledged that they still lack information and path, since it is a phenomenon that began around 2008.