Dragon coin Scam Robbed a 22-year old Finnish Crypto Millionaire

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Becoming a millionaire thanks to Bitcoin, doesn’t always mean you are an expert trader. When making deals, research is always a must. A 22 year old Finnish millionaire learned that lesson the hard way when he fell victim to the Dragon Coin scam by a Thai gang.

The scam resulted in a $24 million loss for the young investor. Aarni Otava Saarimaa was approached back in June 2017 with an offer to invest in a new casino linked with a brand new currency called Dragon Coin.

Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division (CSD) were contacted in the beginning of 2018 by Saarimaa’s partner, the Thai businessman Chonnikan Kaeosali. He quickly informed the authorities on how him and his partner were misled into buying shares in 3 different companies which would eventually build the casino and the coin.

According to the CSD, 5.564 Bitcoins were transferred into seven different wallets. The investments were non-existent and the Bitcoins were converted into nearly 800 million Thai baht. About 25% of the money was used by the suspects, which all turned out to be siblings as reported by the Bangkok post, to buy 14 plots of land with the majority of the remaining sum being deposited into different banks. Other gang members are still being hunted down by the authorities.

The Thai Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) says that crypto is being exploited in almost every modernized financial scam because there’s a big difficulty in tracking the transactions. The police stated that they have seized a total of over 50 bank accounts. Additionally, the 14 plots valued at a little over $5 million have been frozen while the investigation is ongoing. The investigation is also following leads about major stock market investors from the country which share potential involvement.

Thailand has been increasingly welcoming when it comes to ICO’s and cryptocurrencies recently. This case, combined with the links to fraud and modernized money laundering will be an obstacle in the trust and security which cryptocurrencies need to have.

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