By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
AUTHORITIES in Spain have arrested five members of a criminal network accused of running a global €460 million crypto scam.
The suspects were detained on 25 June 2025 in coordinated operations in Madrid and the Canary Islands, according to European law enforcement agency Europol.
The Guardia Civil led the operation, supported by Europol and law enforcement from Estonia, France, and the United States. Three arrests took place in the Canary Islands and two in Madrid. Officers also carried out five property searches at the same locations.
“The perpetrators had laundered €460 million in illicit profits,” said Europol. It said the money was “stolen through crypto investment fraud from over 5,000 victims from around the world”.
According to Europol, investigators suspect the group set up a corporate and banking structure in Hong Kong.
It added they used “payment gateways and user accounts in the names of different people and in different exchanges to receive, store and transfer criminal funds”.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Europol supports Spain crypto arrests
Europol began supporting the investigation in 2023. Its financial crime experts helped coordinate efforts, provided analysis, and gave operational support. A crypto specialist was sent to Spain on the action day to assist national investigators.
The operation involved several international agencies. These included Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board, France’s New Caledonia National Gendarmerie, and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.
Europol has identified online fraud as a major threat to the EU’s internal security. In its 2025 threat assessment, the agency described it as “an epidemic”. Europol said online fraud harms EU “citizens, businesses and public institutions”.
It warned: “The scale, variety, sophistication and reach of online fraud schemes is unprecedented.
“Europol expects online fraud to outpace other types of serious and organised crime. [This will be] accelerated by AI, aiding social engineering and access to data.”
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