Egyptian police have detained 29 people involved in the distribution of the Hoggpool mobile application for investing in cryptocurrencies. 800,000 investors suffered from ill-considered investments, the police insist.
The organizers of Hoggpool promised investors high profits. For the $10 invested, the daily payout was $1, and when the investor made a larger investment – $800 for the purchase of mining equipment – he was guaranteed a daily payout of $55. These promises are called deceit by the police. Alleged scammers are also accused of falsifying registration documents with the secretariat of the US state of Colorado.
Lawyer Abdulaziz Hussein, who represents more than 1,000 affected investors from Cairo, says the victims of the scam could lose more than $615,000.
During a search of the suspects, police confiscated 95 mobile phones and 3,367 SIM cards, as well as $194,000 in local and foreign currency. To receive investors’ money, the organizers of the scheme used 88 cryptocurrency addresses. After receiving crypto assets, funds were distributed among 9,965 addresses, and then converted into bitcoins.
According to Chainalysis, over the past year, Egypt has become the leader among the countries of North Africa in terms of the volume of cryptocurrency transactions – over the year, transfers in crypto assets have increased by 221.7%.
