The 50-year-old mastermind of a “vast” and “international” French crypto scam that duped at least 14 victims out of over $375,000 has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Le Parisien reported that the mastermind was a resident of Seine-et-Marne, a department of the Île-de-France region. The man was sentenced by the Fontainebleau Criminal Court. The court heard that the man and his associates hatched a “particularly sophisticated scam” to fool victims in both France and Israel.
The court heard that the man “impersonated” a famous French hedge fund manager and trader named Pierre Andurand – and preyed on the victims of a now-defunct crypto trading platform. The criminals obtained an “old file” belonging to the platform, which contained the names and contact details of the victims.
The man, posing as Andurand, offered victims the chance to “recover their funds.” He insisted that they pay him “a commission fee” or “reinvested their crypto” in his own platform.
The court heard that the man and his associates “pretended to be professional traders working on behalf of a company” that had bought the liquidated exchange.
The man claimed that he was working “on behalf” of a company based in San Francisco, in the United States – and would allow victims to recoup their funds by “reinvesting” in a “very high yield cryptocurrency.”
French Crypto Scammers: How They Duped Victims
The court also heard that, in the case of one Château-Landon-based victim, the scammers managed to convince a man to hand over bank details and credit card information. With this data, they were able to empty accounts of thousands of USD worth of fiat.
The case has several parallels with a possible $8 million South Korean crypto scam.
In January, a group of 40 alleged victims complained that they had been tricked into buying a potentially worthless (or non-existent) cryptoasset.
The alleged masterminds, police believe, posed as a “loss compensation team,” catering to people who had recently suffered financial losses.
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