Europol Cuts Down €21M Crypto Laundering Op—Linked to Chinese and Middle Eastern Networks

Europol just slammed the brakes on a slick €21 million crypto laundering scheme—turns out even blockchain leaves breadcrumbs when you’re moving dirty money for Chinese and Middle Eastern operatives.

The takedown:
After months of digital sleuthing, law enforcement traced the flow through mixers and offshore exchanges. Pro tip: crime doesn’t pay when Interpol’s watching the mempool.

The irony:
While regulators hyperventilate over grandma’s Bitcoin wallet, actual syndicates were cashing out via the same ’unregulated’ exchanges now begging for compliance badges. Finance never changes—only the ledger does.

• Europol dismantled a €21 million crypto laundering network linked to Chinese and Middle Eastern criminal groups.
• Investigations led to 17 arrests across different countries, with Spanish police conducting 13 searches and German authorities tracing the operation back to fake investment scams.

Europol has successfully shut down a major cryptocurrency laundering operation worth €21 million. The illegal network was connected to criminal groups based in China and the Middle East. 

According to details from Europol’s official website, this group of scammers was involved in helping criminals move money in and out of the country, especially those connected to drug and migrant smuggling. According to the officials, they used ‘the hawala style’ for this extortion. Basically, this method is an informal way of transferring money outside of the traditional banks. They’re based on trust and personal networks. With this method, the scammers deceived ‘their victimized client’ to send money without using official banks. 

Europol regarded it as one of the biggest scam operations, as the group also exchanged cash for cryptocurrency and carried money for criminal gangs. Europol worked with law enforcement from Spain, Belgium, and Austria in January in order to arrest 17 individuals who were linked to the operation.

How Europol Broke Down the Cross-border Scam 

Investigations showed that the group had two major sections, one was focused on Arabic-speaking clients the other on Chinese clients. Due to Europol’s collaboration with the Spanish police they were able to track down 15 members of the ring all who are now in jail. The Spanish police searched through 13 places in cities like Madrid, Valencia, Málaga, Almería, and Cádiz in order to find the culprits. 

Victims of the scam were initially promised large profits and shown fake charts to convince them to send more money. The group used call centers to pressure people into paying, but none of the money was truly invested. The case officially started after a couple filed a complaint in Germany. Police later found key evidence during raids in Belgium and Latvia in 2022, leading to more suspects. 

On May 13, 2025, the officials continued the search in other places like Albania, Cyprus, and Israel, where they seized documents, electronic items, and cash. A suspect in Cyprus was taken into custody and may be sent to Germany.

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