Austria has busted yet another crypto scam on December 17th. According to local media reports, a Dutch man responsible for €1.2 million in scams has been identified by Viennese detectives as part of a significant fraud operation. Austria accounted for the majority of the victims who lost mostly in cryptocurrency.
The crackdown comes as Austria has been alert and vigilant about crypto sector, making sure that scams in the sector have been curbed properly.
Austria Crack Down Yet Another Crypto Scam
Investigators in Vienna, Austria have thwarted a cryptocurrency scam worth $1.26 million, which they have dubbed “Rip-Deal 2.0.”
According to local media reports, with Europol’s assistance, the 39-year-old suspect, who has Serbian ancestry, was taken into custody in Milan earlier this year.
Police confirmed Thursday that he was sentenced to three years in prison by the St. Pölten Regional Court in October.
Some are referring to the crimes as a new iteration of the “Rip-Deal” scam. Such schemes typically entail using fake money to purchase luxury items like pricey watches or gold. However, the victims’ cryptocurrency accounts were the target of this suspect.
“Rip-Deal 2.0” is the new approach that Vienna’s Rip-Deal Unit has named. The suspect was discovered to have €200,000 in counterfeit currency in addition to his focus on cryptocurrencies.
The head of the Vienna unit, Chief Inspector Gerald Goldnagl, clarified that organized gangs from the Western Balkans frequently commit these crimes.
Austria Sees Rise in Strict Regulations To Curb Illegal Crypto Activities
Austria at present has been extremely alert and vigilat about the crypto sector. Just previously, 5 people had been sentenced to prison in Austria for a $16 million scam.
The individuals received jail sentences for their roles in a $21.6 million Bitcoin and real estate Ponzi scheme. While defrauding 40,000 victims, the scammers lavished large sums of money on luxury cars, private planes, nightclubs, and even a shark tank.
Crypto Laws in Crypto: What Do They Say?
The Austrian government continues to support new technologies such as blockchain, distributed ledger technology, and digital assets while closely monitoring developments. With the rise in crypto scams, the regulators in the region have been stricter about the ongoing operations in the nation.
Although it has not formally recognized cryptocurrencies, Austria has supported them. At the time the law regarding crypto was created, there was no legal definition for cryptocurrencies, so they initially caused a lot of problems for Austrian financial market regulators. The country’s government did, however, eventually acknowledge “digital assets” as decentralized currencies.