British police have seized a $ 9.5 million USB flash drive with Ethereum

British detectives seized $ 22.25 million from operators of international cryptocurrency fraud. Among the items seized was a $ 9.5 million USB flash drive containing ETH. Police are now trying to contact the victims of this fraud and return their funds.

British police seized the cryptocurrency on a USB flash drive

The British police in Manchester announced a few days ago that its economic crime department had confiscated a USB flash drive containing “a huge amount of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency after BTC”.

The flash drive was discovered after police arrested a 23-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman for fraud and money laundering crimes. The couple has been under investigation for some time. The police stated:

“Specialists received information that the fraudsters had been in Manchester for a limited time and tracked them down, obtaining an encrypted USB flash drive containing the stolen $ 9.5 million ETH.”

Police said $ 12.7 million was seized a few days later when an “encrypted safe and access code” was found. A total of $ 22.25 million of cryptocurrencies were apprehended by fraudsters, the economic crime unit confirmed. At the time of writing, ETH is trading for $ 3,300.

Victims of fraud are found in the UK, USA, Europe, China, Australia and Hong Kong. “They put money, in some cases lifetime savings, into the online savings and trading service on the Binance Smart Chain, which stores and records cryptocurrency transactions and confirms their movement and value,” police said.

After a significant amount of money was deposited, the fraudsters closed their websites and transferred the funds to their own accounts. The police further stated:

“The total amount seized is 90% of the stolen cryptocurrencies, and work has now begun to hand them over to the rightful owners, some of whom are still unknown and located around the world.”

Detective Joe Harrop said: “We urge anyone who uses similar services on any platform to be very careful and know that there are still significant vulnerabilities and risks that could jeopardize their savings.”

The British police have recently been very active in seizing cryptocurrencies. In July, metropolitan police seized £ 180 million of cryptocurrencies as part of a money laundering investigation after seizing £ 114 million in cryptocurrencies a few weeks earlier.