Japanese Police Arrests 8 Men For Involvement In $68 Million USD Crypto Pyramid Scheme

The Tokyo police have recently arrested eight men that were suspected of leading a $68.4 million USD crypto and pyramid scheme. The story was originally reported by the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun on November 14.

According to the reports, the suspects claimed that they used to run a U. S. investment company that was called Sener. They conducted seminars with foreign speakers all over the world. According to the police, at least one video was uploaded and recorded. During these seminars, the men promised monthly returns of 3 to 20% for the investors.

Like any pyramid scheme, the investors would also receive more money if they were able to recruit new investors. The suspects received Bitcoin (BTC) from about 6,000 people in 44 different cities in Japan, including Tokyo, in which 73 victims filed claims.

Up until now, six of the men have already admitted the allegations but two of them are still denying that they were a part of the scheme and that it was real.

The Tokyo police believe that the men tried to use cryptos to evade the law because of a certain “grey area” that the cryptos still have in the country, as they are not considered securities yet. As Japan is very crypto-friendly, the scammers might have chosen the country because they would find more crypto investors there.

Despite cryptos not being considered securities in Japan, the men have violated the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law of the country by not properly registering with the relevant authority figures in the country.

The Next Web’s Hard Fork has commented on the issue and affirmed that the organizations of the country still do not recognize crypto transactions, so they went unnoticed until the victims complained.

Despite massive hacks happening in Coincheck and Zaif this year, Japan is still very crypto-friendly. The country has even given the local industry a self-regulatory power in October, as the Japanese Virtual Currency Exchange Association (JVCEA) is set to monitor the market.

The country is also set on creating tax laws that will facilitate the lives of the crypto traders in the country and it is currently debating the legal framework of the assets.

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