On June 25, 2021, the Holosiivskyi District Court of Kyiv decided to seize funds from a crypto wallet amounting to $631,500. The police and the Prosecutor’s Office suspect that a fraudster stole a crypto investor’s money. According to the Court’s decision, the alleged fraud scheme could look this way:
- The victim (his personal data is not disclosed in the court decision) has become interested in cryptocurrencies since 2016.
- In 2017, he met another cryptocurrency enthusiast who described himself as an expert in the crypto area in Kyiv. The victim and the “expert” concluded a verbal agreement on advisory services on cryptocurrencies.
- In June 2021, the victim decided to create a crypto portfolio of $631,500. They discussed the details of the transfer of funds and then continued to communicate on the subject via Telegram.
- The “expert” said that the funds needed to be transferred to his personal e-wallet using Tether cryptocurrency.
- At first, it was necessary to conduct a $100 test transaction in Tether. The victim did it. After that, the “expert” said that the entire amount needed to be sent. To do so, the victim gave the entire amount in cash to his friend, and the friend transferred it to the “expert’s” crypto wallet.
- As soon as the transaction was completed, the correspondence disappeared from Telegram, and the “expert” started to deny receiving the funds.
- According to the case documents, the transfer of money to the “expert’s” wallet can be tracked on the etherscan.io website. There is the equivalent to $631,500 on it now.
- The investigators believe that the “expert” thus stole the victim’s money.
Now the case is being investigated by the Investigative Department of the Holosiivskyi Police Office, under Part 3 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code (large-scale fraud).
However, it is unclear how the Court’s seize order concerning the crypto wallet will be implemented — the wallet can only be accessed with the help of its owner.
