London police arrest five people in $1.3 million cryptocurrency fraud investigation

The Metropolitan Police has arrested five men in connection with a cryptocurrency investment scam that used a fake online trading platform to attract potentially thousands of victims around the world.

“These websites are highly persuasive and use unprofessional-looking content, fake testimonials and aggressive marketing tactics to lure people in,” Metropolitan Police Sergeant Stephen Bourne said in a statement on Thursday.

The suspects, aged between 21 and 37, were detained by the Metropolitan Economic Crime Team on October 1 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud. They were subsequently released on bail pending further investigation.

Police said they believed the victims may have lost more than $1.3 million (£1 million) in total. The suspects are accused of running a “boiler room” operation from London, making follow-up phone calls to pressure victims into making further investments in digital tokens that investigators say were never intended to be listed on a legitimate exchange.

Tackling fraud continues to be an uphill battle for law enforcement agencies in the UK and abroad.

In September 2025 alone, Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud helpline, received around 50,000 calls and 9,000 web chats. So far this year, Action Fraud has received 308,000 fraud reports, resulting in losses of more than $3.3 billion (£2.6 billion). Of these, 25,000 reports were classified as investment fraud, with total losses amounting to $1.3 billion (£1 billion).

Investigators linked several suspicious sites to the same network, including DTX Exchange, Intel Markets, Cryptids, Algo Tech Trades, and Unilabs Finance.

All seem to have disappeared except for Unilabs Finance, which continues to operate online. The site bills itself as the “highest performing crypto super fund” and claims to have $30 million in assets under management.

did not respond to requests for comment from decryption Regarding police claims.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art added that some of these websites previously operated under different domain names, making them difficult to trace and increasing risk to investors.

“We recognize that fraud can have a devastating impact on people, which is why we are committed to investigating these types of crimes and supporting victims,” ​​Mr Bourne said.

“While we are still in the early stages of the investigation, we believe this crime is impacting victims in every corner of the world and strongly advise the public not to engage with or invest through the websites listed.”