By using the “rip deal” technique, the criminals were able to steal 1.2 million euros in cryptocurrency.
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Five people have been indicted for fraud by an organized gang after having notably stolen from a man more than one million euros of cryptocurrency using the technique of the “rip deal”. “Or” rotten transaction “, we learned Wednesday from a source close to the case and the Bobigny prosecutor’s office. It is a scam in a cash transaction involving large sums of money to acquire real estate, precious jewelry or large quantities of goods.
Four suspects were arrested on December 6 in Seine-Saint-Denis, three in Aulnay-sous-Bois and one in Bondy and a fifth person in Cannes, who was referred to the Bobigny court on Friday, according to the Central Office for repression of serious financial delinquency (ORCGDF). The five people were indicted in Bobigny for organized gang fraud. Two of them were placed in pre-trial detention, one is under house arrest under electronic surveillance, and the other two are under judicial control, said the Bobigny prosecutor’s office. The accused were all born between 1990 and 1994, with the exception of one of them, older (born in 1961). They are all domiciled in Seine-Saint-Denis.
1,2 million de commission en cryptomonnaie
In July 2020, three criminals came into contact with a first victim, a businessman of Swiss origin and living in Monaco who wanted to sell his villa worth nearly 20 million euros, details Julien Bataille, deputy. to the head of ORCGDF. They pass themselves off to him as false intermediaries for real estate agents who are interested in selling the property. False brokers claim 1.2 million euros in commission. The victim then lets himself be convinced.
Claiming that they wanted to have proof that the man had the sum to pay the commission, the criminals, specialists in sleight of hand, made an appointment in a luxury hotel in Monaco to the victim, who brought in an envelope a USB key containing 1.2 million euros in bitcoins. The envelope is placed in a hotel safe, pending the sale of the villa. The criminals quickly steal the 1.2 million euros in bitcoins stored in the victim’s digital wallet and transfer them to another account.
At the same time, the ORCGDF receives a complaint from a Polish national living in Switzerland, victim of a « rip deal »In Amsterdam with the same modus operandi in June 2020. The victim places in a hotel safe the equivalent of 600,000 euros of jewelry or gold bars which are quickly stolen by the criminals, according to the deputy head of ORCGDF. Two people, already involved in the Monaco affair, have also been identified in this scam.
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