£22,000,000 bitcoin scammers made so much money they handed it out in the street

Bitcoin scammers handed out 5k gift cards to people in street and bought cars for pub friends — Bitcoin scammers made over £22million after exploiting a loophole on a crypto trading site (Picture: Lancashire Contsabulary)

A gang of bitcoin fraudsters made so much money from an online scam they bought new cars for strangers in pubs and handed out £5,000 gift vouchers in the street.

James Parker, from Blackpool, began orchestrating the scam in 2017 after discovering a glitch which allowed him to steal money from an Australian cryptocurrency trading website.

The move allowed him and his associates, Kelly Caton and Jordan Kane Robinson, to syphon off more than £20 million worth of credits over a three-month period.

Assisting them in their scheme was Parker’s corrupt financial adviser Stephen Boys, who earned the nickname ‘Rodney’ from Only Fools and Horses and helped the trio launder the stolen funds.

Boys worked with a UK national based in Dubai to convert the cryptocurrency into cash. It was then laundered through various foreign based online accounts.

The gang splurged their fortune on luxury items such as watches, houses, cars and designer goods, including a £600 wine cooler, while keeping more than £1 million stashed away in various bank accounts.

At one point the gang was making so much money they ended up simply giving it away to strangers and people they met at the pub, Preston Crown Court heard.

During the trial, Boys told the court how he took £1 million cash in a suitcase to buy a villa from Russians he met in the back office of an estate agent and paid £60,000 to pay off corrupt officials so he could carry on laundering money.

FILE PHOTO: Bitcoin representation is seen in an illustration picture taken at La Maison du Bitcoin in Paris — James Parker stole over £20m in Bitcoin and died before he could be brought to justice (Picture: Reuters)

The gang were eventually rumbled following an extensive investigation by Lancashire Police, who worked closely with international law enforcement in Australia and Finland to bring the gang to justice.

Police were able to recover 445 Bitcoin – then worth around £22 million – which will now be returned to the victims.

Detective sergeant David Wainwright, of Lancashire Police’s fraud unit, said: ‘The scale of the fraud in this case is absolutely staggering and led to the suspects literally having more money than they could spend.

‘I would like to pay tribute to all the agencies who worked closely together to bring these people to justice.’

We have today welcomed the sentencing of four people following a Lancashire Constabulary investigation into a ?20m Bitcoin fraud. The fraud began in 2017 when James Parker from Blackpool discovered a glitch in an Australian crypto currency trading website which allowed him to steal money. He and his co-conspirators then siphoned off more than ?20m worth of credits over a three-month period. Parker?s corrupt financial adviser Stephen Boys, who earned the nickname ?Rodney? from ?Only Fools and Horses?, helped launder the stolen funds. The scam made so much money that ?5,000 gift cards were handed out to people in the street and cars were bought for people Parker met in the pub. During the trial Boys told the court how he took ?1,000,000 cash in a suitcase to buy a villa from Russians he met in the back office of an estate agent and paid ?60,000 to pay off corrupt officials so he could carry on laundering money. Those sentenced are: Stephen Boys (12/07/63), of Winster Court, Clayton le Moors. Six years for converting criminal property. Jordan Robinson (01/08/98), Poulton Road, Fleetwood. Four-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commit fraud, two years for acquisition of criminal property and two years for converting criminal property. Kelly Caton (29/10/77), Livingstone Road, Blackpool. Four-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commit fraud, two years for acquisition of criminal property and two years for converting criminal property. James Auston-Beddoes (25/07/94), Brighton Avenue, Lytham. One-and-a-half years for conspiracy to commit fraud. One year for acquisition of criminal property and one year for converting criminal property. His sentence has been suspended for 1 year. — Money launderer Stephen Boys bribed officials with over £60,000 to continue cleaning the gang’s stolen crypto cash (Picture: Lancashire Constabulary)

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said: ‘A very significant amount of the laundered assets have been returned or are in the process of being recovered on the behalf of the Australian cryptocurrency exchange.’

Prosecutor Jonathan Kelleher added: ‘These offenders used the internet from the comfort of their own homes to obtain tens of millions of pounds worth of Bitcoin which did not belong to them.’

James Parker evaded capture and died before he could be brought to justice in 2021.

The other members of the gang were sentenced to 15 years in prison between them after being found guilty of fraud, converting and transferring criminal property.

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