Two fraudsters in the UK have been jailed for six years following ‘Operation Curry,’ a police investigation into a scam that used cold-calling to trick victims into investing in a completely fictitious cryptocurrency called Telecoin.
Ross Jay, 33, and Michael Freckleton, 37, were charged with conspiracy to defraud and sentenced in Southwark Crown Court last Friday, according to City of London Police.
The pair invented Telecoin and a fake company called ‘Digi Ex.’ They then sold shares in the made-up crypto, luring victims with talk of a lucrative emerging market.
Chief Inspector Lee Parish from City of London Police’s fraud team said: “Jay and Freckleton exploited this mindset and knowingly chose to simply take the victims’ money for their own financial gain, with no intention whatsoever of providing a service that even resembled a credible investment.”
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The Telecoin name was used to create a shell company and make the scam look more legitimate, but it never saw a penny of investor money. At least £400,000 was stolen from investors and the duo’s Digi Ex account received a total of £509,599. The pair each paid themselves salaries of £139,000 and withdrew £145,000 in cash.
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