Blockchain
Somerset and Wiltshire couple jailed over £5.7m crypto scam
Image source: Avon and Somerset Police
Image caption: Police have identified victims from 26 different countries targeted by the couple
3 hours ago
Two men who stole more than £5.7 million in cryptocurrency from victims around the world have been jailed.
Jake Lee, 38, of Charlcombe in Bath and James Heppel, 42, of Staverton in Wiltshire, both pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud.
The South West Regional Organized Crime Unit (SWROCU) identified 55 victims across 26 countries, including 11 from the UK, who had been targeted by the pair.
Lee was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and Heppel was sentenced to 15 months at Bristol Crown Court on May 3.
The cash included £551,000 in a suitcase, which had been voluntarily handed over by Lee in January.
The pair carried out the fraud by replicating the website of cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com to access victims’ Bitcoin wallets, allowing them to steal their funds and login details.
A print of Banksy’s 2003 work Bomb Love worth £60,000, along with cash totaling £835,000, cryptocurrencies worth £64,000 and three cars were all confiscated by police.
A confiscation order worth almost £1 million has been made against Lee, which will be used to compensate the victims.
Proceedings are ongoing against Heppel over a similar order – which forces criminals to hand over money and available assets or add time to their prison sentence.
Image caption, A print of this Banksy work from 2003 was confiscated by the police
Det Supt Matt Brain of SWROCU’s Regional Cybercrime Unit said the investigation into the pair began when Avon and Somerset Police arrested Lee on suspicion of money laundering.
Officers recovered £24,000 in cash and three digital devices, including three rolled Bitcoin wallet recovery seeds – a collection of words that helps the owner restore a Bitcoin wallet that has been lost.
At the same time as the investigation into Lee, SWROCU had also launched an investigation into a cryptocurrency scam reported by a victim from Wiltshire who had £11,000 worth of Bitcoin withdrawn from his Blockchain wallet.
Image caption, The cash was recovered by the police as part of the investigation
Brain added: “We undertook the investigation into Lee and when we analyzed his devices, we established that he was a central figure involved in a sophisticated domain spoofing fraud and worked to identify numerous victims.
“Describing Lee and Heppel’s crimes and links to other suspects and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world was complex work, but the fact that they both pleaded guilty on all counts, negating the need for a six-week trial , shows the strength of the evidence we have secured against them.”
Pamela Jain, specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service’s International Serious Economic Organized Crime Directorate, said: “This was a complex and time-consuming proceeding involving numerous victims and prosecutors across the country. world”.