1 week Ago By Patrick Smith
Police have arrested a fake Uber driver who is accusing of stealing more than $300,000 in cryptocurrency from unwitting passengers. Officers in Scottsdale, Arizona, a desert city east of Phoenix, apprehended Nuruhussein Hussein, 40, on Wednesday on felony charges of theft, fraud and money laundering, Scottsdale Police Department said in a statement. In a joint operation with the United States Secret Service field office in Phoenix, police said they found that between March and December this year the suspect pretended to be an Uber driver and picked up unsuspecting customers who had ordered a real ride outside a hotel in Scottsdale.
Police said Hussein would then ask to use the victim's phone, on the pretense of needing to look up directions or connect to the Uber app. "While manipulating the unsuspecting victim’s phone the suspect transferred cryptocurrency from their digital wallet to his digital wallet," police said in a statement. The suspect was booked into Maricopa County Jail and both police and the Secret Service are continuing their investigation.
He was charged with two counts of money laundering, two counts of fraudulent schemes and two counts of theft. He appeared in court for a bond hearing Wednesday and is due to appear again on Dec. 18.
The court heard Wednesday that he told one alleged victim to "chill or something bad would happen." A $200,000 bond was placed on him and prosecutors told the court that the suspect regularly travels to Ethiopia and was a flight risk. The terms of the bond include constant electronic monitoring, a ban on all internet use and to stay in Maricopa County.
Cryptocurrency fraud, a fast-growing and lucrative crime, is a huge concern to law enforcement authorities. People across the U.S.
made more than 69,000 complaints and reported losing $5.6 billion to this form of fraud in 2023, the FBI said. The true figure is likely many times higher due to the reluctance of some victims to contact authorities.
More than 16,000 complaints of cryptocurrency fraud came from people over 60, according to the FBI's first Cryptocurrency Fraud Report , released in September. Arrests related to cryptocurrency scams are relatively rare. Four accused scam artists, three from Southern California and one from suburban Chicago, were charged in an alleged so-called "pig butchering" scheme last December that persuaded victims to part with more than $80 million, officials said Thursday.
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