An individual calling himself Crypto Gouv is suspected of having defrauded four million euros from nearly three hundred Internet users, reports France Inter on Monday.
The youtubeur had created a loyal community of 4,000 subscribers by posting tutorials in the field of cryptocurrency investments.
He discussed every day with his future victims on the Discord and Telegram applications, in order to put them in confidence.
He reveals his scam
Cyrpto Gouv would have quickly proposed to its subscribers to invest jointly in “pools”.
Many Internet users would have followed him, placing 100 to several tens of thousands of euros on his advice.
But on July 9, Crypto Gouv would have recovered all the money available on these "pools", estimated at four million euros.
He would then have publicly announced to his subscribers that they were defrauded, complacently revealing to them how he ripped them off.
More and more common scams
An investigation was opened in mid-July by the Paris prosecutor's office, specifies France Inter.
In total, around forty complaints have been filed, but the victims could be many more.
The suspect faces five years in prison, as he himself would have boasted to the people from whom he stole the funds.
Scams are increasingly common in the field of cryptocurrencies.
On July 14, RMC related the case of scams on dating applications, with the example of three women who lost 200,000 euros by entrusting money to a crook.
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