Group of Spaniards Take Class-action Against a Purported $298M Crypto Scam

A lawsuit related to crypto fraud was filed by a group of Spaniards who took a class action against a purported million-dollar scam. The lawsuit filed before the National Court of Spain accuses an individual of supposedly scamming more than 300 small crypto investors throughout Spain. The money that was stolen is expected to add up to $3.58 Billion.

Yet another sham crypto-related activity has been challenged in court. Fraudulent schemes and cryptocurrencies live cheek by jowl now that technology has advanced so much.

In the lawsuit, the group of Spaniards has accused an individual namely Javier Biosca Rodríguez of swindling investors of more than €250 million. This would round off to approximately $298 million in cryptocurrencies.

The rundown of the victims ranged from lawyers to tax inspectors to notaries. There were some unemployed individuals too while some were domestic workers and some retirees. Even owners of small businesses trying to recover from the economic crisis owing to the coronavirus fell prey to the scam.

The concept of class-action is not new to the National Court of Spain but the one involving crypto-related crime is. A local media outlet referred to the class-action as first-of-its-kind.

The victims who filed the suit as class-action was represented by a lawyer called Emilia Zaballos. The lawyer explained that in spite of the fact that the lawsuit was instituted before it wasn’t revealed to the public earlier. They waited till the investors had submitted contracts and other documents.

Zaballos also holds the post of president at the Association of People Affected by Cryptocurrency Investors. Since she is contacted by many victims on a daily basis so according to her, the number of crypto victims keeps increasing each day.

In the lawsuit, it has been claimed that the damages amount to approximately €250 million which translates to $298 million. However, the real concern according to the lawyer is that this amount could transcend the $3.58 billion barricades which are 3 billion euros.

The court documents reveal that through the fraudulent schemes Biosca offered a weekly return of 20-25% to customers on their crypto investments. His focus was on procuring mainly Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Litecoin with the accumulated money.

Initially, in order to gain the trust of the customers, there were given returns on their investments. This trust that Biosca gained helped him reach out to more customers and expand his market with more investors falling into the trap.

During this time period, Biosca even reduced the return to 10% and 8% from 20-25%. He had made his clientele believe that he was the owner of a brokerage firm Algorithms Group. After reducing the returns he eventually stopped paying his clients anything at all.

It has been revealed that the lawsuit is not just limited to Biosca but also extends to his family which includes a wife and a son. They have collectively been accused of not just the scam but some other crimes as well such as misappropriation, bribery, and corporate crimes.