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We have seen the arrests of multiple cryptocurrency exchange operators over the past few years. In particular, people who run such businesses without the proper licenses find themselves in a world of trouble sooner or later. In Japan, the police have arrested one individual who allegedly ran a Ripple-related exchange business. He scammed at least one investor out of a deposit, which made him a person of interest to the police.
FormerĀ XPR Exchange Operator Gets Arrested
This entire story is worth taking note of, especially when consideringĀ that the same individual defrauded at least a dozen investorsĀ across different schemes. Yuki Takenaka operated a company which seemingly specialized in the exchange of XRP, which is Rippleās native digital asset. MostĀ readers knowĀ that Japan has taken aĀ particular liking to XRP and Ripple, mainly due to the parent companyās relationship with Japanese banks.
The 31-year-old Takenaka is suspected of havingĀ stolen at least one depositĀ in the amount of US$12,500. This may not seem like much, but Japan doesnāt take kindly to nefarious exchange operations of any kind.Ā With cryptocurrencyĀ having attainedĀ legal status earlier this year, thereĀ has been increased scrutiny of such operations in the country. That is a good thing, mind you, as it helpsĀ deterĀ any association between cryptocurrency and illegal activity.
Interestingly enough, this āscamā dates back to March of 2015. According to theĀ Japan Times, Takenaka collected the money during a time at which his company was failing and couldnāt issue any refunds whatsoever. So far, he has admitted to most of these charges, which furtherĀ hints the policeĀ did the right thing in arresting him. Takenaka confirmedĀ his XRP exchange was set up back in May of 2014, although things quickly went from bad to worse forĀ his company.
Indeed, it did not take longĀ before most users could not withdraw cash or other currency from the platform. To top it all off, the unnamed exchange platform issued IOUs which allowed Takenaka to collect even more money from users and investors. Users should have been able to exchange these IOU notes for either cash or XRP, but that did not happen either. In the end, it is believed Takenaka conned over a dozen usersĀ out of nearly US$88,000. ThisĀ mayĀ not be the biggest scam in theĀ history of cryptocurrency, but itās not one that should be overlooked either.
The IOUs issued byĀ this exchange only tell one part of the story, though. The police are investigating another IOU issued by Takenaka worth about twelve times as much, although few details are known aboutĀ that business venture for the time being. It is evident there have been a few different attempts at defrauding investors by this specific individual, although theĀ fullĀ amount of the damages remains unknownĀ at the present time.
For the time being, it remains unclear how much jail time TakenakaĀ willĀ face due to his illegal conduct. It is evident there is still a lot of investigative work to be done in this regard, and more information should come to light in the next few weeks and months. No one can deny that cryptocurrency attracts a lot of scammers and con artists. Slowly but surely, these individuals need to be weeded out, although that is much easier said than done.
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