Chinese couple and local arrested over Rs. 14 bn. crypto currency fraud

By Norman Palihawadane

The Financial and Commercial Crimes Bureau of the CID has arrested three persons for committing massive crypto currency fraud amounting to around Rs. 14 Billion (US $ 37,891,504.00)Police Spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa said that the scam was committed by a Chinese couple together with a Lankan identified as Lamahewage Shamal Keerthi Bandara.

The Chinese couple was arrested at the Katunayake International Airport, and the Police Spokesperson said that 8,000 people were scammed by these con artists.The SSP said Bandara started the conning people since 2020 out of an office set up at the World Trade Center in Colombo.He said that the three criminals deceive unsuspecting individuals by promising them hight returns on crypto investments.

The suspects had engaged in discussions with potential investors at various five-star hotels in Colombo and convinced victims to engage in the pyramid scheme fraud. The suspects had created a special application for the scheme which showed investors almost five times the profit of their investments in crypto currency, but they were unable to enjoy the profits.