Police raided a number of areas round Europe late final week, arresting 9 suspects in a four-year hashish Ponzi scheme that reportedly netted the scammers €645 million ($604 million).
Europol, the cooperative EU regulation enforcement company, mentioned police in Germany, Italy, Latvia and Spain had been concerned in raids in opposition to the operators of Juicy Fields, a fintech firm that hosted a crowdsourcing platform that promoted pretend investments in “e-growing” or “per plant” shares of hashish crops.
One other suspect was arrested in a raid within the Dominican Republic, and the British Nationwide Crime Company additionally introduced the arrest of a “senior workers member” of the rip-off within the UK who’s being extradited to Germany.
Following ‘breadcrumbs’
“After painstakingly piecing collectively breadcrumbs of digital proof, investigators had drawn up a joint intelligence image that allowed police forces throughout Europe to provoke this wave of arrests,” Europol mentioned.
Police seized money, autos, artwork, and numerous luxurious objects within the raids.
Europol mentioned “JuicyFields” was an elaborate on-line pyramid scheme that enticed prospects to speculate as little as €50 to purchase a hashish plant on-line. The rip-off claimed to hyperlink up traders with medical hashish producers, promising annual returns of 100% or extra, in keeping with Europol.
Preliminary traders of €50/$53 had been paid out double their funding, which motivated them to speculate extra, Europol mentioned. “Many traders would elevate the stakes and pay in a whole lot, hundreds, or in lots of circumstances even tens of hundreds of euros,” in keeping with the company.
‘Feigned credibility’
“The platform feigned credibility because it was not solely represented within the digital world, however upheld the picture of a reliable authorized enterprise construction with bodily places of work, workers and illustration at hashish business occasions,” Europol mentioned.
Precise damages may very well be “considerably increased” than the preliminary estimate of €645 million, in keeping with Europol, which mentioned as many as 180,000 traders world wide had been duped by the scheme.
The rip-off’s backers abruptly eliminated firm profiles from social media networks and stopped customers from logging in to their accounts in July 2022, freezing money withdrawals.
VIDEO: A 2022 on-line assembly at Juicy Fields
Lawsuits fueled probe
Widespread studies to police and associated lawsuits introduced by Swedish lawyer Lars Olofsson triggered Europol to conduct the complicated investigation involving numerous European international locations and companies.
In late 2022, Olofsson mentioned he had recognized as many as 170 people, banks and firms with connections to the “Juicy Fields” fraud, and estimated losses as excessive as $2.5 billion.
The lawyer later initiated a lawsuit on behalf of practically 800 plaintiffs from 50 international locations in opposition to banks, attorneys and several other social and information media shops that he mentioned helped facilitate investments into Juicy Fields. His claims addressed 70 people, 60 banks, and 40 corporations, together with main social media and information platforms Fb, Instagram, Forbes, Google, CNN, and YouTube.
Corporations and people primarily based in Cyprus, Germany, Netherlands, and Switzerland performed roles within the improvement of Juicy Fields, in keeping with the lawyer.
Fb’s position in rip-off
Swedish lawyer Lars Olofsson recognized many people, banks and firms that contributed to the rip-off.
Olofsson filed a class-action lawsuit in opposition to Fb Sweden AB in Stockholm District Courtroom late final month by which he’s representing 514 victims he mentioned had been deceived by Juicy Fields adverts revealed on Fb.
“Our proof clearly proves that Fb, regardless of repeated guarantees, and written dedication of the identical, doesn’t have a system in place to forestall fraudulent adverts from being revealed throughout its ecosystem,” Olofsson mentioned.
“With this lawsuit, I’m demanding that Fb take duty for the truth that fraudulent adverts appeared on the platform and additional that they weren’t eliminated when Fb customers (and my purchasers) reported them as fraudulent adverts to the corporate,” Olofsson mentioned.
Olofsson is looking for damages totaling $23 million (€21 million) misplaced by his purchasers on account of commercials that appeared on the social media platform.
