Police in the United Kingdom seized $22.25 million from the perpetrators of a global bitcoin scam. A USB stick with $9.5 million in Ethereum was among the surrendered items (ETH).

Following the arrest of two people for fraud and money laundering, the Economic Crime Unit of Greater Manchester Police allegedly discovered and seized the USB stick.

After discovering a "cryptograph safety deposit box" and the code required to access it, authorities seized another $12.7 million a few days later.

The figure represents 90% of the cryptocurrency that the alleged fraudsters stole from their victims in the UK, US, Europe, China, Australia, and Hong Kong, according to a statement released by the Greater Manchester Police on Aug. 8.

The victims allegedly deposited their money, including their life savings, into an online savings and trading program based on blockchain technology. Before closing their website and moving the funds into their accounts, the scammers waited until large sums of money had been placed.

Fortunately, the police received intelligence information that the perpetrators of the scam were in Manchester and were able to track them down.

Exploitation of technological developments

While cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum are now being seen as the future of money and trading, according to Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop of Greater Manchester Police's Economic Crime Unit, their emergence has also brought with it new types of a crime involving criminals who want to take advantage of these technological trends.

As part of a money-laundering probe, London police also seized digital assets worth $249.35 million last month. To date, the crypto seizure is one of the largest in the world. In a separate money-laundering investigation, the UK's Met Economic Crime Command confiscated $158 million worth of cryptocurrency.