Serbia extradited to the United States fraud suspected to Bitcoin scams, worth of 70 million dollars

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said Serbia has extradited a serbian citizen to the United States accused of defrauding investors of more than $70 million.

The 32-year-old Antoni Stoilkovic in July 2020was arested in Belgrade and subsequently agreed to be extradited.

The court in Dallas intends to charge Stoilkovich and his partners with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. The prosecutor’s office claims that more than a dozen alleged fraudsters lured the victims, among whom were residents of Texas, tens of millions of dollars.

The suspects created more than 20 fake platforms for investing in binary options and bitcoin mining, promising an average profit per transaction of up to 80%. They claimed that investors would be able to buy the first cryptocurrency for half the price on their mining platforms.

For fake companies, including Options Rider, Bancde Options, Start Options, Dragon Mining, BTC Mining Factor, and Trinity Mining, the attackers created false management profiles with names and photos, mostly of women. To convince potential investors of the legality of the platforms, they even launched video conferences.

After the transfer of money, the defendants provided investors with access to the portal, which invariably demonstrated a positive return on investment, alleged trading activity and the history of withdrawal of funds. The suspects used the funds received for their personal needs and to maintain the operation of the fraudulent scheme.

Some of Stoilkovic’s accomplices were detained by the Serbian police during the July operation, and one was arrested in October in California. If convicted, he and his accomplices face up to 20 years in the US prison.