Spanish law enforcement arrested five people suspected of running an international cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme that laundered more than €460 million ($542 million) from over 5,000 victims worldwide, according to a statement from Europol. According to Spain’s Guardia Civil, the criminal ring used a company based in Hong Kong, posing as a legitimate foreign-exchange investment firm, to lure victims into bogus crypto deals. Cryptocurrency investment scams remain one of the costliest forms of online fraud globally. Earlier in June, the U.S. Department of Justice announced efforts to recover over $225 million in cryptocurrency stolen through confidence and romance scams run out of Vietnam and the Philippines. In May, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Philippines-based infrastructure firm Funnull Technology Inc. for supporting hundreds of thousands of websites tied to so-called “pig butchering” scams — fraud operations that combine social engineering, fake investment pitches, and romance lures to drain victims’ crypto wallets.