Three men have been jailed in the UK over a £4 million ($5.3 million) cryptocurrency fraud scheme in which they posed as police officers, convinced victims their holdings were at risk, and then stole the funds.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said the group called eight victims while claiming to be officers. They told targets their crypto was in danger and persuaded them either to hand over account details or move funds into accounts they believed were secure police wallets or police-controlled accounts. The trio had also built fake police websites that appeared convincing. Once victims complied, the coins were stolen immediately and pushed through what police described as a complex laundering network.
Sentences handed down at Southwark Crown Court
At Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, Anthony Ikenwe, 29, and Kevin Nwamma, 25, were each sentenced to six years for conspiracy to commit fraud and five years for money laundering. The sentences will run concurrently. Hamza Bashir, 23, received three years and nine months for fraud and three years for laundering, also concurrent.
Police said the group spent well beyond its declared means
Detectives said the men were living far beyond what their recorded income would support. One of them had a recorded annual income of only £444. Even so, the group bought a car worth almost £60,000 using crypto, stored about £500,000 in cash in a safety deposit box in Dubai, and took holidays in Thailand, Japan, Paris, Mykonos, the Maldives and the Seychelles.
According to the Met, they also shopped at Harrods, Hermès and Louis Vuitton and regularly converted cryptocurrency into prepaid payment cards. Officers linked more than £1 million in crypto to wallets controlled by Ikenwe. They also traced stolen money flowing into bank accounts connected to Nwamma’s luxury chauffeur business. Luxury goods recovered during searches were valued at more than £26,000.
Investigation began after victims came forward in January 2025
The case began when victims reported the fraud in January 2025. The Metropolitan Police Cryptocurrency Team said it used a data-led approach to connect what first appeared to be separate incidents. Investigators combined blockchain transaction data, exchange records, communications, financial records and internet service provider data, and said that work helped them identify a single organized network operating across multiple platforms and jurisdictions.
"This was a highly complex investigation into a group of calculated manipulators who exploited victims' trust by pretending to be police officers," said Detective Inspector Geoff Donoghue of the force’s Cryptocurrency Team. He added: "Criminals should be under no illusion—policing is evolving alongside technology."
Raids across London and Essex led to arrests and seizures
In November, officers raided seven addresses across London and Essex, arrested the three men, and seized luxury goods, cryptocurrency and 40 mobile phones. Police said they recovered around £1 million tied to victims.
Ikenwe and Nwamma pleaded guilty in April. Bashir denied involvement and went to trial, but changed his plea on the eighth day after prosecutors presented extensive evidence, according to the report.
Police impersonation remains a recurring tactic in crypto crime
The report said the Met case fits into a broader pattern of fraud involving criminals who pretend to be law enforcement. A similar case emerged last year, when a scammer posing as UK police stole $2.8 million in Bitcoin from a victim’s hardware wallet.
In the United States, fraudsters posing as Denver police convinced a woman that she had missed jury duty, then directed her to feed cash into a Bitcoin ATM to clear a fake warrant. The FBI has said older Americans have been hit especially hard by this kind of impersonation scam.
Some fake officers have appeared in person. In France, robbers dressed as police held a couple at knifepoint in a $1 million Bitcoin robbery. In Ukraine, men posing as police were arrested for extorting $250,000 in Tether from an entrepreneur.
The Metropolitan Police said it is still working with UK and international partners to identify others linked to the conspiracy and to recover more assets for victims.