MORE than four million pounds has been returned to victims who were conned out of an international crypto-currency scam.

With the worldwide scam operating in Manchester for a limited time, specialist officers from Greater Manchester Police's Economic Crime Unit cracked the network and seized more than 16 million pounds in July 2021.

The criminals were using Ethereum, the second largest crypto-currency after BitCoin, to scam victims out of large sums of money.

A total of 150 victims from around the world were depositing money into what they thought was an online savings and trading service, but this was hijacked by the scammers, who would shut down the website and transfer all the funds into their own accounts.

After specialist officers received intelligence that those running the scheme had been in Manchester, they recovered an encrypted USB stick containing $9.5 million of stolen Ethereum.

They found a further $12.7million a few days later after locating a Cryptograph safety deposit box, effectively an online safe, and the code to access it.

After a significant verification process, more than four million pounds has been returned to victims of the scam, with another 127 claims currently being investigated by law enforcement officers across the globe.

However, another seven million pounds is yet to be claimed and returned to rightful owners.

A 23-year-old male and a 25-year-old female were arrested for fraud and money laundering offences.

They have since been released under investigation pending further enquiries.

Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop, from GMP's Economic and Cyber Crime unit, said:

"Crypto-currency saving and trading services are becoming increasingly popular, with projects offering incentives to people to invest significant amounts of money, offering tokens that can then be sold for a profit.

"Our lives are now online or on our phones, and currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are often seen as the future when it comes to money and trading.

"However, this type of crime is increasing across the globe and criminals are getting savvier by finding ways to exploit the trend, in ways even the most experienced users can't anticipate.

"Anyone involved in these Crypto-currency and trading services are urged to take extreme caution and do a lot of research as there are still huge risks."

Anyone who thinks they may have been affected by this particular scam is asked to email OpGabbro@gmp.police.uk.