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According to reports from the Ping An Tianjin Binhai public account, the police in Chenzhou, Hunan have cracked a new type of investment fraud case involving virtual currency, intercepting 7 packages of gold related to the fraud and seizing 310 grams of gold.The police traced the leads and found that these intercepted express deliveries were all part of a scheme where criminals, under the guise of investment and financial management, lured victims to purchase gold offline and then send it to a designated address. The illicit funds were then circulated multiple times through virtual currency exchanges and transfers to overseas accounts. The police remind that this new type of investment fraud has become a new trap, and the gold involved in the case is currently being gradually returned to the victims, with the investigation ongoing.

The Hong Kong police announced the progress of the investigation into the JPEX virtual asset trading platform fraud case, revealing that since the investigation began, a total of 80 people have been arrested, and assets totaling approximately HKD 228 million have been frozen. Another round of prosecution actions has been taken, charging 10 individuals with "money laundering" and "conspiracy to commit money laundering."Chief Inspector Han Chenghao of the Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau stated that the JPEX case is the largest in terms of the number of victims and the amount of money defrauded in recent years in Hong Kong, with over 2,700 victims reporting losses exceeding HKD 1.6 billion. Since the incident, no company or individual has admitted to being the actual operator, and the police need to conduct extensive investigations to clarify who the masterminds, core members, or accomplices behind JPEX are.

According to Cointelegraph, the Criminal Assets Bureau of the Irish National Police has announced that it has successfully cracked one of the 12 Bitcoin wallets associated with a convicted drug dealer, retrieving 500 Bitcoins worth over 35 million dollars.The wallet owner is Clifton Collins, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 for cultivating and selling cannabis. Collins purchased 6,000 Bitcoins with drug trade proceeds between 2011 and 2012, storing them across 12 wallets, with the keys printed on an A4 sheet of paper and hidden in a fishing rod case, which were later lost when his landlord cleared the house.Earlier today, it was reported that the Irish drug dealer deposited 500 BTC into Coinbase after nearly 10 years, worth 35.44 million dollars.

According to DL News, David Balland, co-founder of the French company Ledger, was kidnapped by a criminal gang in January 2025. The assailants cut off his fingers and demanded a ransom of $11.5 million in Bitcoin. After the incident, the police acted quickly, rescuing Balland and his partner, and arrested 10 suspects at the scene, but one suspect escaped to Spain amid the chaos. After weeks of joint pursuit by the police of both countries, the suspect was eventually captured in Benalmádena, Spain.Currently, the Fuengirola court is advancing the extradition process based on the European Arrest Warrant agreement, and French authorities have confirmed that they have identified and arrested all individuals involved.

Two co-founders of the Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, who received investment from Coinbase, were arrested by the police on suspicion of involvement in a cryptocurrency investment scam. However, according to reports from other local media, the two were only summoned and not arrested.CoinDCX issued a statement saying that the case involves someone impersonating the founders of CoinDCX and defrauding an insurance consultant of 7.1 million rupees (approximately $75,000), and is unrelated to the two founders.

According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong police's Cyber Crime Unit "Guardians of the Net" disclosed a virtual currency fraud case, where a 66-year-old retiree fell victim to a "virtual currency investment expert" scam three times since September 2025.After being defrauded of 1.4 million Hong Kong dollars for the first time, the victim paid another "expert" a deposit of 600,000 Hong Kong dollars to recover the losses, and was then induced to purchase virtual currency worth 4.6 million Hong Kong dollars to be transferred to a designated account. The scammers went offline after receiving the payments, and the victim's total losses reached 6.6 million Hong Kong dollars within six months, leading to a report to the police for help.The police remind the public not to easily trust "guaranteed profit" investments and so-called "loss recovery" services to prevent being victims of successive scams.

According to Solid Intel, the FBI, in conjunction with the Thai police, seized approximately 8,000 mobile phones and froze about $580 million in cryptocurrency assets in an operation targeting scams against Americans.

According to a report by the Korea Unified News Agency, the Jongno Police Station in Seoul announced the dismantling of a money laundering crime group primarily composed of family members and relatives.The group operated an unregistered virtual asset exchange in Myeongdong, Seoul, converting cash obtained from telephone scams into Tether (USDT) and then transferring it overseas, with the money laundering scale reaching hundreds of billions of Korean won.In addition, the group also took advantage of rising precious metal prices to purchase gold through virtual assets across borders and then exported it for profit. The police have arrested 19 suspects, including the main money laundering perpetrator A (46 years old) and three others who have been detained. The overall leader of the scam organization, B (44 years old), has fled overseas, and the police are in pursuit. Currently, cash, silver balls, and gold bars totaling approximately 6 billion Korean won have been seized as criminal proceeds.

According to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, the Hong Kong police launched an operation codenamed "Thunder Drum," targeting a fraud group that claims to offer low-interest loans and collects deposits in cryptocurrency. Within two days, they arrested 3 men and 3 women (aged between 29 and 63) across various districts in Hong Kong on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud. Some suspects have connections to organized crime, and the operation is still ongoing.Since November 2025, this fraud group has been randomly calling victims, posing as bank employees to promote low-interest loans. They lure victims to a fake office rented under a shell company in Central to sign contracts and require them to pay deposits as proof of assets. The methods of payment include cash, bank transfers to dummy accounts, and cryptocurrency payments, with the latter primarily targeting older individuals or those unfamiliar with technology.A total of 13 victims are involved, with diverse backgrounds, some holding associate or master's degrees, including businessmen and company owners, with total losses amounting to approximately 5 million Hong Kong dollars. The police seized various documents and computers as evidence at the scene.

According to Asia Economic Report, the Korean National Police Agency recently completed a draft directive for the management of compressed virtual assets, which for the first time includes management guidelines related to "dark coins" (highly anonymous virtual currencies) and clarifies the management plan for software wallets (hot wallets). Dark coins have been difficult to trace in transactions and have been used in criminal cases such as the "Room N" case and money laundering activities in North Korea. It is reported that the virtual assets compressed by the Korean police over the past five years are estimated to be about 54.5 billion won at current market prices, of which Bitcoin accounts for about 50.7 billion won and Ethereum about 1.8 billion won.In addition, the police agency plans to complete the selection of private custodial institutions within the first half of the year, but the previous three bidding attempts failed due to issues such as a budget of only 83 million won and the small scale of qualified institutions. Experts suggest establishing a government-led professional unified custodial system to prevent security vulnerabilities and internal risks.

According to DL News, the Ertzaintza police in Spain's Basque Country stated that cryptocurrency-related crimes in the region are on the rise, with a total of 541 related cases investigated in 2025, which are still under investigation.The police have been equipped with specialized tools to monitor cryptocurrency transactions across multiple blockchain networks and have formed a cybercrime department consisting of 26 detectives dedicated to combating crimes such as crypto fraud and hacking. The cases under investigation include 13 suspected cases of crypto fraud, 2 suspected cases of crypto money laundering, as well as tax evasion and illegal purchases of goods and services.The police warned that scammers impersonate friends and family on social media platforms like Instagram to provide investment advice, tricking victims into installing applications that allow remote control, thereby stealing cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts.

According to DL News, police in the Île-de-France region of France arrested two teenagers (aged 15 and 17) and a 35-year-old man, all suspected of carrying out two armed kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency holders on March 10 in the Île-de-France region.Reports indicate that the first incident occurred in the Essonne department in the southern suburbs of Paris, where the suspects, wearing masks and carrying small explosive devices, attempted to break into the home of a cryptocurrency holder but failed. About 30 minutes later, another incident took place in the Seine-et-Marne department, where the suspects successfully broke into the home of a female cryptocurrency holder, kidnapped her family, and stole jewelry; it has not been disclosed whether cryptocurrency assets were also stolen.The police subsequently tracked the suspects' vehicle, deploying about 100 armed special police officers and two police helicopters to pursue them, intercepting the vehicle after approximately 6 hours and discovering the stolen jewelry inside. Prosecutors have charged the three individuals with extortion, organized crime, armed robbery, property damage, and kidnapping. Currently, the 17-year-old suspect and the 35-year-old man are in custody awaiting trial, while the 15-year-old suspect is under judicial supervision, and prosecutors have appealed this decision.

According to the Jinan Daily, Li Weiwei, a female police officer from the Economic Investigation Unit of the Dezhou Public Security Bureau in Shandong Province, China, optimized her investigative methods by tracking the flow of funds transaction by transaction during the analysis of a telecom fraud case.After detailed analysis, Li Weiwei discovered a new type of criminal model that combines "traditional underground banks + virtual currency," which is more concealed and harder to trace. After several days of continuous effort, she ultimately identified 12 main criminal suspects, over 100 financial accounts, and 6 virtual currency wallet addresses. Together with the special investigation team, she created a clear organizational structure chart and a flow chart of the funds, legally freezing the assets involved in the case, successfully solving Dezhou's first underground bank case involving virtual currency.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of India announced the arrest of Ayush Varshney, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Darwin Labs, at Mumbai Airport, for allegedly being involved in the notorious GainBitcoin Ponzi scheme. It is reported that Varshney was attempting to leave India at the time.Investigations reveal that the scheme was operated by Variabletech Pte. Ltd., attracting investors by promising high returns on cryptocurrency investments. Law enforcement agencies accuse Darwin Labs of developing and deploying key technological infrastructure for the scheme, including the MCAP cryptocurrency token and ERC-20 smart contracts. Additionally, Darwin provided technical support for the GBMiners.com Bitcoin mining platform, BitCoin Payment Gateway, CoinE Bank Bitcoin wallet, and the GainBitcoin investment website, which were allegedly used to lure and defraud investors. Media reports indicate that the scheme began in 2015 and operated across several states in India. It is estimated that the case involves approximately ₹1,900 million (around $2.1 million) in funds, as well as 29,000 bitcoins. At current prices, these bitcoins are valued at over $2 billion.

According to DL News, the police in Lyon, France, have arrested 12 suspects allegedly involved in planning a cryptocurrency kidnapping case from last year. Previously, about 150 armed police officers raided a building near the Valence train station in the Drôme region on August 31, 2025, rescuing a 22-year-old Swiss man who had been kidnapped for four days. The kidnappers demanded a ransom in cryptocurrency, and the victim suffered severe abuse and injury during his captivity.The police stated that these arrests are the result of months of investigation, and approximately 20 individuals have been identified and implicated. On the day of the operation, one mastermind and two others were arrested, and in early September, 7 more were apprehended, including 6 individuals aged between 24 and 30, and 1 minor under 18. The prosecution has charged these individuals with kidnapping, illegal detention, organized crime, extortion, illegal possession of weapons, and conspiracy.On March 2, the police launched another large-scale operation, arresting 18 people, of whom 3 were detained. Additionally, the Versailles police are pursuing 3 suspects who impersonated police officers to rob a couple of $1 million worth of Bitcoin at knife point. From 2023 to the end of 2025, the French police have handled a total of 40 cryptocurrency-related kidnapping cases.

According to Cointelegraph, a couple in their fifties in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, a suburb of Paris, was invaded by three suspects impersonating police officers, who threatened them with knives and forced the husband to transfer over 900,000 euros (about 1 million dollars) in BTC. They then bound and harmed both individuals before fleeing in a white van.The woman managed to free her husband and call the police afterward. The Versailles prosecutor's office has opened a case for illegal detention, armed organized robbery, and conspiracy of a criminal group, with the investigation being conducted by the Brigade for the Repression of Banditry.

According to Cointelegraph, a French couple in their home in Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, west of Paris, was invaded by three armed men posing as police officers. They were forced to transfer approximately 900,000 euros (about 1 million dollars) in Bitcoin, after which the couple was bound and injured. The assailants then fled in a white van. The case has been transferred to the anti-gang department for investigation by the Versailles prosecutor's office, and there have been no arrests reported so far.This case is the latest example of "ransom attacks" in the cryptocurrency sector in recent years (where violence or threats are used to force holders to hand over digital assets). According to data from the cybersecurity platform CertiK, such attacks globally increased by 75% to 72 cases in 2025, with France leading the world with 19 cases. Since the beginning of this year, there have been multiple incidents of kidnapping and home invasion targeting cryptocurrency professionals in France.

The Hunan Financial Office's official account has issued a reminder to the public to be wary of Ponzi scheme scams. In the analysis of the virtual currency investment platform "Yuzhi Financial" case, it pointed out that Yuzhi Financial has completely "run away," with offline stores empty, and customer service and "team leaders" either missing or promoting new Ponzi schemes. As of now, police in various regions have opened channels for rights protection registration, guiding investors to orderly register their information, and the case is still under further investigation.The Hunan Provincial Financial Office reminds that such scams often use high-tech and difficult-to-understand concepts like AI, digital currency, and NFTs as a guise. There is no myth of "zero risk, high returns" in the financial market, and one should remain highly vigilant against claims of "earning 1% daily" and "high dividends."

The CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Ashley Alder, stated that the agency has received nearly 900 complaints about investment fraud, with a quarter related to virtual currencies.The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will collaborate with the police, customs, the Monetary Authority, as well as licensed brokers and virtual asset service providers (licensed entities) to establish communication channels with licensed entities and actively cooperate with the police's anti-fraud coordination center's "24/7 payment halt mechanism" to immediately freeze transfers involved in fraud or high risk.

A resident of Nanaimo, Canada, fell victim to a scam after receiving a text message promoting remote stock trading jobs and depositing about CAD 5,000 (approximately USD 3,600) through a cryptocurrency ATM at the end of last year. Earlier this year, the victim saw a message online disguised as an RCMP announcement encouraging fraud victims to report their cases.After submitting a form, a person claiming to be a lawyer called, stating that they had found two cryptocurrency accounts related to the victim and could help recover about USD 60,000 in so-called profits. Gary O'Brien, a media relations officer with the Nanaimo RCMP, stated that the RCMP does not contact individuals regarding discovered cryptocurrency accounts, does not collaborate with private companies to recover lost funds, and does not request any form of payment to investigate fraud.Andy Zhou, co-founder and CEO of blockchain security company BlockSec, stated that such tactics are known as "false recovery service scams" and have systematic characteristics. Scammers often possess victim information collected from the original scam, and organized fraud rings circulate lists of previously remitted victims, making these individuals targets for secondary scams.The effectiveness of impersonating law enforcement brands lies in exploiting the psychological mechanism of "authority bias." Canadian police have been conducting cryptocurrency investigation training since 2022.