Dubai Police have arrested six suspects in a Dh2.6 million cryptocurrency fraud case in which a victim was drawn into a digital currency deal through an unlicensed exchange. The losses amounted to Dh2 million in cash and Dh600,000 in cryptocurrencies.

According to the police, the victim went to the unlicensed exchange to buy cryptocurrency with a large amount of cash and met several people there who were later identified as members of the fraud ring. The victim moved virtual assets into decentralised wallets designed to hide their owners, after which the suspects took the cash and fled.

After the report was filed, the General Department of Criminal Investigation ran two parallel operations: field work to gather evidence and identify the suspects, and a technical effort in which specialists used blockchain analysis to follow the stolen assets across multiple wallets. Police said the suspects were identified and arrested in record time, and the stolen assets were secured before they could be moved or disposed of.

Dubai Police urged residents not to carry out cryptocurrency transactions through unknown brokers or unlicensed exchanges, particularly those promising unusually high returns, and to verify the legal status of virtual asset service providers before any deal. They also warned against cash-based cryptocurrency deals with unverified brokers.

(Source: Khaleej Times)