British Law Enforcement Reportedly Seized $ 435 Million In Crypto In Criminal Investigations Over The Past 5 Years | Currency News | Financial and business news

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British law enforcement has seized nearly half a billion dollars in bitcoin over the past five years, according to a New Scientist report.

A quarter of the UK’s 48 police forces have found cryptocurrency – almost all bitcoin – worth £ 322million, or $ 435million, according to New Scientist, who submitted requests access to information to the departments to obtain the data. .

London Metropolitan Police uncovered most of the illicit bitcoin, seizing £ 294million, or $ 398million, of that total, while Greater Manchester Police seizing £ 25million, or $ 34million .

In a high-profile case in June, the London Metropolitan Police seized a record-breaking £ 114million, or $ 154, of cryptocurrency. A month later, the same department set a new record by recovering £ 180million, or $ 249million, according to a CNBC report at the time.

While bitcoin made up 99.9% of digital assets seized in the UK, law enforcement also discovered ethereum, monero, dash and zcash, New Scientist said.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been a popular tool among criminals due to the difficulty in tracing accounts and owners of assets.

In the United States, the Department of Justice seized $ 56 million in cryptocurrency in November as part of the massive BitConnect crypto scam in which its promoters swindled thousands of people out of $ 2 billion worth of bitcoins in 2017. In December, US and Japanese law enforcement seized 3,879 bitcoins. , which is now worth around $ 167 million, after an employee of Sony Life Insurance Company in Tokyo embezzled funds from his employer.

A new report from Chainalysis has revealed that crypto crimes – particularly ‘carpet draws’ in which developers abandon their cryptocurrency projects and disappear with user funds – jumped 81% to nearly $ 8 billion. dollars in 2021.

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