Greek Cypriot man loses $260,000 in crypto scam

A Greek Cypriot man from Limassol was reportedly scammed of over $200,000 worth of cryptocurrency. 

The 49-year-old victim reported the incident to Greek Cypriot police last week claiming that he had fallen victim to a scam involving cryptocurrencies, where he lost $260,000.

The victim told police that in early August he received a message on his phone purporting to come from a cryptocurrency exchange. The message alerted him to ‘suspicious activity’ in his account, advising the man to move his crypto to another account.

The man was convinced, following the steps indicated to him, and created a new account with a different cryptocurrency exchange.

Later, he received a phone call where the caller advised him to convert into crypto, money he had in bank accounts. Supposedly this was to protect his money as his bank accounts were linked to crypto accounts he had set up.

The man realised he had been scammed when he tried to transfer cryptocurrency to a different electronic wallet, only to see that his wallet had been emptied out of funds.

Limassol CID is investigating.