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UK Man Sentenced to 4-1/2 Years in Jail for Stealing $2.5M in Crypto

UK Man Sentenced to 4-1/2 Years in Jail for Stealing $2.5M in Crypto

UK Man Sentenced to 4-1/2 Years in Jail for Stealing $2.5M in Crypto

Wybbo Wirsma, a Dutch native who lived in the U.K., was under investigation for five years before pleading guilty in an Oxford court on Thursday.

Wybbo Wirsma, a Dutch native who lived in the U.K., was under investigation for five years before pleading guilty in an Oxford court on Thursday.

Wybbo Wirsma, a Dutch native who lived in the U.K., was under investigation for five years before pleading guilty in an Oxford court on Thursday.

By Helene Braun
AccessTimeIconJan 27, 2023, 5:37 PM
Updated May 9, 2023, 4:06 AM
Wybo Wiersma (serocu.police.uk)

A U.K. man was sentenced to four years and six months in jail after pleading guilty to stealing more than 2 million pounds (US$2.5 million) in cryptocurrency, the U.K.’s South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) said Friday.

Wybbo Wiersma, a 40-year old Dutch native living in Oxford, England, had been under investigation by U.K. and Dutch authorities after they seized computers, drugs and cash in his Oxford home in 2019, following a police investigation.

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Wiersma had set up a website under a false name on which he generated an 81-character code that he used to steal IOTA tokens from users around the world.

"Wiersma deprived people of their money which they had invested in cryptocurrency, moving it through a web of trading accounts and causing some to lose businesses and life savings,” Detective Inspector Rob Bryant of SEROCU said in a statement.

The investigation involved more than 100 victims worldwide, Bryant said.

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Helene Braun

Helene is a New York-based reporter covering Wall Street, the rise of the spot bitcoin ETFs and crypto exchanges. She is also the co-host of CoinDesk's Markets Daily show. Helene is a graduate of New York University's business and economic reporting program and has appeared on CBS News, YahooFinance and Nasdaq TradeTalks. She holds BTC and ETH.

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