UK Police Team With Law Firm for Asset Recovery Program Following Crypto Fraud Seizure

The police of the city of London has opened a program for civil assets repair in collaboration with the legal company Gowling WLG, after a successful pilot in which assets were recovered on behalf of an older victim of a £ 2 million cryptocurrency fraud.

The partnership will be aimed at coordinating the collection of efforts between the police and other stakeholders, including victims and their legal representatives.

The recovery program will work in cases where criminal prosecution is not possible, which gives victims of fraud-including crypto-related fraud-the-chance to claim any refund.

“After a successful pilot, we are pleased to work on this initiative with the police of City of London to investigate and support victims to earn back money lost due to such fraud,” said Gowling director Bríd Holt in a press release.

At a time that Crypto -Family cost $ 9.9 billion worldwide Just in 2024, Holden also said that Gowling hopes that the collaboration with the police of City of London “will change the landscape and encourage more victims to report fraud, generally increase consciousness.”

The London police also strive for a similar result, with detective head inspector Craig Mullish report in the same release that, in the case of fraud, “It is the money or the lost assets that can have a lasting effect on victims.”

Nevertheless, the police investigation shows that even recovery of civil assets can help authorities to combat organized crime groups and protect the UK against fraud and other crime.

And even in the context of crypto-related fraud, cases of asset repair have occurred more often in recent months.

Only a week ago, the British police who worked in combination with law firms were able to reclaim more than £ 520,000 (about $ 670,000) in crypto who was cheated by an 80-year-old man.

In this specific case, the police made use of an update of the proceeds from Crime Act 2002 that gave the power to freeze stolen digital assets.

This new power can release the basis for more partnerships between the British police and legal companies, which have not always been able to pick up stolen cryptocurrencies without the help of more experienced organizations.

For example, last September the submission in the UK of a case Against Platicitors of Wealth Recovery, who accused a victim of a crypto fraud of £ 635,000 (about $ 818,000) of negligence after the stolen funds has not recovered.

The lawyers of the wealth of recovery are reportedly lacking the expertise to trace the cheated crypto and to manage the lawsuit needed to pick it up, whereby the company applies for a global freezing order against blockchain.com – simple because details of the Bitcoin address with the stolen BTC can be viewed on the Blockchain.com website.

The case against Platicitors of Wealth Recovery is dealt with by Ashley Fairbrother of Edmonds Marshall McMahon, who participated in the recent collection of £ 520,000 in Crypto.

Spend against DecryptFairbrother said that he welcomes the ‘important partnership’ between the police of City of London, which he regards as an important step in tackling the ‘endemic fraud problem’, as the UK is currently being confronted.

“It is only because of this kind of initiative and cooperation efforts that we can hope to tackle the increasing scale of fraud,” he said, “and it is precisely these schemes that we now have to concentrate on and create between each police, and specialized law firms, law firms, to catch the complex and fast.”

Fairbrother also acknowledges that the government “has laid the foundation” for such initiatives by adding section 303Z51 to the proceeds of the Crime Act, but adds that it is crucial that police services take the initiative to set up partnerships.

“By doing this, we give this country a fight in the fight against fraud,” he added, “to ensure that victims are not only left to wear the financial burden alone and to help us dismantle the criminal networks behind these crimes, by removing their stolen digital assets.”

Published by Andrew Hayward