In Russia, a fraudster sold non-existent cryptocurrency mining equipment worth 19 million rubles

Russian law enforcement officers have arrested a resident of Kazan who was selling non-existent cryptocurrency mining equipment on the Internet. The fraudster is accused of fraud worth 19 million rubles.

According to a police statement, the man, previously convicted of drug possession, posted ads on the Internet for the sale of mining equipment, took full prepayment from his victims, and then disappeared. Under this scheme, the fraudster sold miners worth 936,000 rubles to a 45-year-old resident of Pskov. When the money was transferred to his account, the suspect stopped contacting the buyer.

The suspect is currently awaiting trial in a pre-trial detention center, and his case has been sent to the prosecutor’s office for formal charges. He faces charges under Article 159, Part 3 of the Russian Criminal Code — large-scale fraud. Interestingly, according to ESET, a cybersecurity company, Russia is the world leader in the number of cryptocurrency crimes.

Earlier, we reported that a cryptocurrency scammer in Russia invented a non-existent cryptocurrency, sold it, and disappeared. The total amount of losses then reached 250 thousand rubles. And in late August, the Security Service of Ukraine arrested a cryptocurrency wallet of a Russian citizen that was used to finance Russian military aggression in Ukraine.