Bitcoin scam has been one of the treding scam happening over the world another culprit has been handcuff by the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), One Eze Harrison Arinze has been remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre till June 14, for duping over 30 victims from 13 countries to the tune of $769,263 in bitcoin scam.
In a statement on Wednesday by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the suspect was arrested and arraigned before Justice J. K. Omotosho of the Federal High Court (FHC), in Abuja on March 22.
A first prosecution witness, Ogunjobi Olalekan of the EFCC, told the court how the suspect received $382,000 (Three Hundred and Eighty Two Thousand United States Dollars) worth of bitcoins from his victims before his account was blocked by his Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP).
Olalekan futher told the court that Arinze’s victims were deceived into withdrawing their funds and they deposited them into Arinze’s bitcoin accounts, thinking that they were transacting legitimate businesses. Arinze, however pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.
At the resumed trial of the case, Olalekan said to the court: “We requested for users on the platform who have deposited crypto currency to the defendant’s account and their names were provided. About thirty persons on the platforms deposited various sums of bitcoin to the defendant’s account. “Those that were identified were from thirteen different countries- the total inflow to his bitcoin wallet address based on the response was about 15.5btc valued around $382,000 (three hundred and eighty two USD) and the defendant has withdrawn about 5btc before it was blocked.
“We got the information of these users who deposited the funds, showing their user identities, location, money deposited at different intervals, wallet addresses where these funds were sent to at different intervals.
“Other vital informations like the amount they sent, dollar equivalent, email addresses of depositors, transaction identities were also disclosed.
After listening to the witness testimony, Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter for continuation to June 14, 2023 and ordered the remand of the defendant in Kuje Correctional Centre.
