Argentina arrests 24, seizes $8M crypto in fraud crackdown
In brief
- Argentine authorities executed 90 simultaneous raids on May 31, arresting 24 people.
- Operation seized 8 million USDT and 60 million pesos from unregistered financial advisers.
- Fraudsters pitched fake investments via WhatsApp, converting victim funds through Binance P2P.
- Prosecutors ranked operation above 2024's RainbowEx case in significance.
How the fraud operated
Unregistered financial advisers reached out to potential victims through WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business accounts, pitching what appeared to be legitimate investment opportunities. Investigators identified more than 100 activation codes linked to WhatsApp accounts used in the operation. The scheme relied on social engineering and fake platforms designed to appear credible.
Once victims committed funds, the networks converted money to USDT through Binance's peer-to-peer marketplace and transferred it abroad, including to Venezuela. This multi-step process obscured the money trail and made recovery nearly impossible for victims.
The seizure and enforcement
Beyond the cryptocurrency, authorities seized nearly ARS 60 million in cash and confiscated 80 electronic devices, including mobile phones and computers used to coordinate the fraud. The scale of the operation reflects how deeply these networks had embedded themselves in Argentina's retail crypto ecosystem.
Argentina's growth in digital asset adoption, spurred by ongoing economic challenges and a pro-crypto stance by President Javier Milei, has created both opportunity and risk. Regulators implemented a registration regime for Virtual Asset Service Providers (PSAV) managed by the Comisión Nacional de Valores (CNV), but these fraud networks operated outside that framework, using unregistered advisers and unlicensed platforms.
The operation signals that enforcement is catching up. Whether the registration regime can prevent future schemes remains an open question.
