Two arrested after pensioner scammed out of six-figure crypto nest egg

Two men are in police custody after being arrested in connection with a July cryptocurrency fraud involving a man in his seventies. The case was brought to Police Scotland in July 2024 after a 75-year-old from Aberdeen lost "a six-figure sum" worth of cryptocurrency. Officers from Police Scotland, assisted by England's West …

[lglethal]

"Other scams dupe unwitting investors into moving funds to "government agencies" for "safekeeping.""

How on Earth does that work? In America? Where no-one trusts the government further than they can throw them?

There are scams out there that are convincing, hard to detect, and even the smartest of people can be had. And then there are scams like this, which well frankly boggle the mind that anyone could be that gullible!?!

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a fairly skilled crime - they will sound very plausible unless you happen to know otherwise.

A relative was targeted and gave me the phone so I had a chance to listen to their speil before I told them where to go.

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

"This is a fairly skilled crime"

I think most scammers, con artists, fraudsters etc are quite skilled at what they do, probably very skilled at catching the target off guard.

At a friend's wedding once, they had a sleight of hand magician wandering around doing tricks for guests' entertainment. A group of us were watching him do his act, all of us trying to catch him out, knowing exactly what he was doing and trying to spot the moment he did it. He somehow got my watch off my wrist, onto his own and even got the fiddly buckle done up perfectly and tucked in. None of us spotted him do it. I asked him after what he could do if he applied his skills out in public for bad, he said he could make a fortune and be confident of never being caught.

[Anonymous Coward]

a sleight of hand magician

I once saw a clip of Penn & Teller doing the shell game, but with transparent glassware instead of the traditional opaque.

And - presumably due to all the the clever hand motion and other misdirections - it was still almost impossible to follow the ball around!

[Dr_N]

Re: a sleight of hand magician

I've seen Penn & Teller's act in Vegas.

Well worth it if anyone is looking for a show when there.

[Eclectic Man]

The trick is to watch from a distance and the side as they do their sleight of hand. Never be the focus of their attention. I watched a man bending a cheap fork by 'telepathy'. But from the side it was clear that he was waving the fork around and then very swiftly bending the tines with his other hand. It was so quick if you were in front of him you would probably never spot it. When Richard Feynman and his son watched Yuri Geller, it seems that the ability to bend spoons merely by stroking them eluded him.

[Eclectic Man]

A few years ago my father was phoned up and offered a iPhone 7 for a mere £695. Clearly a scam*.

*If anyone is willing to pay £695 for an iPhone 7 max, I have one that is in excellent condition, battery still claiming to have 86% of its capacity. Still got the box, somewhere.

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Thinking that no-one could be that gullible is one of the first lines of defence broken.

[Eclectic Man]

Nice

That the Police are investigating electronic fraud, and actually catching some of them*. Now if they could catch the *%^$£%)ds who have scammed my pensions and savings companies out of over £100,000 that would be nice (i.e., knowing that they are no longer able to pursue their felonious little plans against my savings).

*Although the 'suspects' have to be treated as if innocent until proven guilty.

[Doctor Syntax]

The bigger question is who scammed the pensioner into investing a six-figure sum into cryptocurrency in the first place.

[anonymous boring coward]

"who scammed the pensioner into investing a six-figure sum into cryptocurrency in the first place"

That would be himself.

[Nifty]

AI Daisy picked up the phone. "Open my crypto wallet?, now where did I put it? Ooh the kettle's just boiled. Now what was that you said? Must let the cat in. Oh yes crypto. Well would you believe it, I was at the cemetery visiting my late husband's crypto just last week. Now where were we?"

[Anonymous Coward]

moving funds to "government agencies" for "safekeeping."

Why would anyone think that is safe-keeping? Well I guess they steal it legally by taxing everyone multiple times, unless you're super-rich and it makes sense to hire a team to ensure you avoid it.

Tax on earnings, tax on everything you buy, tax on everything you do and then if you have any left you get taxed for dying so your kids have to sell your property to pay it. Consider all but earning is tax on taxes.

[Roj Blake]

NS&I are a government agency, and Ernie's been quite generous to me over the years.

[druck]

Not really, over 18 months up to last summer I held the maximum of £50,000 of premium bonds, and the winnings averaged out to about 3% to 3.5% APR where as even instant access savings accounts were paying over 4%. Obviously I didn't get any of the larger prizes, in fact I've never won more than £700 in one draw, nor last time when I had the maximum amount before I bought a house 16 years ago and it was supposed to slightly more generous then.

Plus the £1 bond my neighbour bought the year before I was born, and gifted to my mother for me, has won sod all, not even a shilling as it was back then.

[anonymous boring coward]

So many Nigerian princes needing help.

[Anonymous Coward]

Master criminals?

Stealing from a Scotsman takes enormous skill and perseverance.

I mean, just getting a Scotsman to open his purse is an act of great achievement.

(34% Scottish myself)

[Bobby2810]

Victim

Am a victim of romance scam originating from Ghana

I was taken out of over 100K by a Ghanaian but my reports to the Embassy directed my complain to the Ghana Crime Unit; info.ghanapolice at consultant . com and luckily the perpetrators was brought to justice it happened in 2021 after the demise of my wife I sign up on a love site,it started as acquaintance and she acted very caring so I develop interest in her and we exchange numbers and were talking off the dating sites and she informed me that it was a few days to her birthday and she always celebrate with the orphans in Africa and she was visiting Ghana and she informed me that the caretaker of the orphanage is pleased with her donations and gifted her gold nuggets which she was sending home but on boarding the flight she was arrested for unlicensed gold and I had to pay bills after bills for legal paperwork’s which I ran out of funds and informed the US Embassy and was shocked it was a male in her late 20’s that was scamming me- Do not Send Mo ye to any1 online.