A 23-year-old man from the Canadian city of Halifax was sentenced to 12 months of community service. The court decided that the Canadian embezzled 10,000 pounds sterling (about $12,600), which a certain resident of the Scottish city of Aberdeen invested in a cryptocurrency project.

Benjamin Riley, according to a court verdict, is required to work 200 unpaid hours on charges of cryptocurrency fraud. The Canadian, the court decided, positioned himself as a cryptocurrency trader and promoted his services through social networks. The young man said that he independently developed a computer program with which users could receive high income from investments in cryptocurrencies.

In September 2021, a 30-year-old man from Aberdeen invested £10,000 in the project, of which £8,000 (about $10,000), the court insists, was misappropriated by Riley. Scottish law enforcement began investigating the case in January 2022, when one of the investors noticed that an investment chat with Riley had been deleted and there was no access to the investor's money. Banks and an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange took part in the investigation.

“Investing in cryptocurrencies can bring high returns, but they are unpredictable. Scammers may promise high returns on investments to attract more people. Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies are not fully regulated, so the safety of these investments is not guaranteed. Victims of cryptocurrency criminals are located all over the world, so although we work closely with other law enforcement agencies and financial institutions, we can only investigate crimes that occur in Scotland,” the local police issued an announcement.

A few years ago, a Scottish man was sentenced to five years in prison for buying a gun on the dark web and paying for it with bitcoins.