Cyprus, specifically the state’s prosecuting authorities, was not left out of the effort to dismantle a fraud scheme with international operations and a turnover of €645 million.
A police operation carried out last Thursday, involving 400 members of prosecuting authorities from 11 countries and supported by Europol and Eurojust, resulted in the arrest of nine individuals and the seizure of large sums of money acquired illegally as part of a financial fraud scheme involving a “pyramid” of investors (a “Ponzi” scheme) for the alleged production of pharmaceutical cannabis.
The scheme left traces in Cyprus as well. Reliable information from Phileleftheros reports that, following a request for assistance from other countries and an investigation conducted by the Unit for Combating Money Laundering Crimes (MOKAS), bank accounts with significant amounts of money were identified on our island, which were the product of illegal activities within this international fraud scheme.
Specifically, our information indicates that MOKAS froze a total amount of €4 million. Last Thursday’s international operation resulted in the freezing or seizure of various assets in different countries: €4.7 million in bank deposits, €1,515,000 in cryptocurrencies, €106,000 in cash, and €2.6 million in properties.
According to estimates, the total losses suffered by investors from virtual investments on a crowdfunding platform for the cultivation of pharmaceutical cannabis amount to €645 million.
However, it is not excluded that the frauds that occurred and were not reported to prosecuting authorities could correspond to a much larger amount.
Most of the deceived individuals among the total of 550,000 participants in the “investment” are European citizens, who registered as online investors, using bank transfers or cryptocurrencies for their transactions.
According to official information from Europol, suspects from Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Jordan, the USA, and Venezuela, since early 2020 used social media advertisements to attract victims to their websites.
These platforms supposedly offered promising investment opportunities in the cultivation, harvesting, and distribution of cannabis plants for medical purposes.
With a minimum investment of €50, the scheme organisers promised prospective victims that they would be put in touch with pharmaceutical cannabis producers.
By purchasing a cannabis plant, the platforms assured investors that they would soon receive high profits from selling marijuana to legal/licensed traders. While the “company” guaranteed a 100% return on investment, it did not disclose how this would be achieved.
Initially, more than 500,000 investors received returns on their investments. However, in July 2022, the criminal group abruptly removed the company profiles from social media and prevented users from accessing their accounts, thus “blocking” cash withdrawals.
Following complaints from deceived investors across Europe, Europol organised coordinated investigations.
One of the main high-value targets in the effort to uncover the scheme was located in a residence in the Dominican Republic. This involves a Russian national against whom a search warrant was executed by a team of Spanish Police officers and Europol experts.
According to an official statement, Europol supported this massive cross-border investigation from the beginning, taking the lead in operational coordination and providing tailored analytical support.
