Recently, Egyptian police arrested 29 people in connection with the Hoggpool cryptocurrency scam. In addition to the 95 mobile phones and 3,367 SIM cards seized, $194,000 worth of currency was also seized in the arrests. According to a lawyer representing more than 1,000 victims, as many as 800,000 people have fallen victim to the scam.

According to a police statement, the mastermind of the Hoggpool scam used a total of 88 digital currency wallets to receive funds from investors. Once the funds were received, the gang began to redistribute them among 9,965 digital wallets. The funds were later converted into Bitcoin BTC and then smuggled out of the country.

While the police statement said Hoggpool scammers defrauded investors out of as much as $615,000, many Egyptians believe the real figure is much higher. The report quoted a lawyer for Abdulaziz Hussein as saying that there were more than 1,000 victims in Cairo alone and that as many as 800,000 people may have fallen for the scam.

Use of forged documents

Despite Egypt's ban on the use or trading of cryptocurrencies, the masterminds of the Hoggpool scam reportedly lured their victims by promising unrealistically high rates of return on investment. For example, according to the CBS report, the investment options offered to potential investors range from an initial outlay of $10 with a daily payment of $1, to an investor paying $800 for a miner that pays $55 a day.

In addition to promising high investment returns, the alleged scammers were also accused of using forged documents to lure unsuspecting victims. One of the documents, a so-called good standing fact certificate, was allegedly issued to Hoggpool by the U.S. Secretary of State's Office in Colorado.