Police in Gran Canaria have arrested five people who are said to have helped run a massive scam that netted hundreds of victims, many of them in the Canaries.
The five have been the focus of a major investigation led by Spain’s Madrid-based Criminal Court into the activities of a gang that recruited unsuspecting victims for its operations, described by the authorities as an elaborate Ponzi scam.
The organisers of such schemes often siphon off some of the money for personal gain or simply disappear with the investors’ funds when the scheme collapses
The gang offered high rates of return for investment in crypto and foreign currencies on the well-known FX Winning platform. However, payments made initially to those who signed up were never derived from investments but from fresh money obtained as more people joined the fraudulent scheme, which relied on new investors to sustain it.
FX Winning has featured in the headlines in recent years following multiple lawsuits filed in countries such as the United States by duped clients unable to withdraw their invested funds.
The exact number of victims in the Canaries is not known but the authorities estimate that it could be more than 500.
The five people arrested yesterday during raids by officers from the Civil Guard’s financial crimes unit, who are believed to have flown in from Madrid for the operation, are due to appear in court shortly to be charged with a range of offences, including money laundering, fraud and membership of a criminal organisation.
Further arrests are not ruled out as the investigation continues into the network’s activities in the Canaries.
