"Authorities have seized $15bn (11.3bn) worth of bitcoin and a string of luxury London properties in a joint UK-US crackdown on criminal masterminds behind romance scam centres in south-east Asia. The bitcoin confiscated by US investigators is the largest seizure in the history of the Department of Justice. A multi-million mansion and office block in the City of London are among 19 UK properties also being seized as the two governments issue sanctions on a gang that runs such scam centres on an industrial scale."
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Investigators seized $15bn (£11.3bn) in bitcoin and 19 UK properties, including a multi-million mansion and an office block in the City of London, in a joint UK-US crackdown on organised romance-scam networks operating from south-east Asia. US authorities described the bitcoin seizure as the largest in Department of Justice history. The scam network lures victims into fake online relationships and extracts savings, while many perpetrators are trafficked foreign nationals forced to commit fraud under threat of torture. City of London Police estimate romance scams cost the UK at least £92m in 2023–24, with over 8,000 reports last year.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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