Over £4 million has been returned to rightful owners following an international cryptocurrency scam that was rumbled by Greater Manchester Police.
It’s come after a sum of $22.25 million (which is equivalent to just over £16 million) was seized by specialist officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Economic Crime Unit in July 2021, when intelligence led to the discovery of USB sticks containing huge amounts of Ethereum – the second largest Crypto-currency after BitCoin.
A total of 150 victims from all over the world contacted officers in the unit following the scam-bust, which GMP says saw millions invested in a fake savings and trading service.
Over £4 million has now been returned to 23 verified victims, and another 127 reported claims are currently being investigated by officers alongside partners in international law enforcement across the globe.
Victims based in the UK, United States, Europe, China, Australia and Hong Kong had deposited money, including life savings, into what they thought was an online savings and trading service using Binance Smart Chain – which stores and records transactions made in crypto-currency confirming their movement and value.
The scammers operating the service waited until a significant amount of money had been deposited, before shutting down their website and transferring the funds into their own accounts.
Unfortunately for them, the scammers did not disappear without trace.
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Specialist officers received intelligence that those running the scheme had been in Manchester for a limited time and tracked them down, and
Officers first recovered an encrypted USB stick containing $9.5 million of stolen Ethereum, and they found a further $12.7million a few days later after locating a Cryptograph safety deposit box – which is effectively an online safe – and the code to access it.
A 23-year-old male and a 25-year-old female were arrested for fraud and money laundering offences, but they have since been released under investigation pending further enquiries.
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It’s not over yet either, as another £7 million still needs to be claimed by rightful owners.
$22.25 million was seized by specialist officers from Greater Manchester Police’s Economic Crime Unit in July 2021 / Credit: GMP
Speaking on the return of the funds, and issuing a warning on cryptocurreny services, Detective Chief Inspector Joe Harrop – from GMP’s Economic and Cyber Crime Unit – said: “Anyone involved in these cryptocurrency and trading services are urged to take extreme caution and do a lot of research as there are still huge risks.
“Online currency and trading is incredibly technical and need in-depth knowledge in order to make sure your money is safe.
“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
“Thankfully, we’ve returned over four million pounds to 23 individual victims and we’re continuing to work through a large number of other reported claims where we can hopefully return even more money [but] we believe there may still be victims out there from all over the world who are owed some of this money we rumbled half a year ago.”
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Anyone who thinks they may be affected by this particular scam should get in touch with GMP on [email protected] with the following details:
The name of the savings and trading service invested in
The name of the law enforcement you reported the crime to, and officer details
Wallet addresses and documentation to prove ownership
Six teenage boys arrested following stabbing of 13-year-old in Rochdale town centre
Emily Sergeant
Six teenage boys have been arrested following the stabbing of a 13-year-old in Rochdale town centre over the weekend.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) explained that officers were called out to reports of a ‘serious assault’ near the Riverside Shopping Centre in central Rochdale on Saturday (29 August), and when they arrived on the scene, they found that a 13-year-old boy had been stabbed.
The young boy currently remains in hospital receiving treatment, while a police investigation into the incident is open and ongoing.
Two teenage boys were first arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a bladed article on the same day the incident occurred (29 August), but have since been released on bail.
Officers then made four further arrests yesterday (31 August), again all teenage boys who were arrested on suspicion of assault and possession of a bladed article, with enquires ongoing.
A Section 60 and 60AA ‘stop and search’ authority was introduced in Rochdale town centre following the recent incidents in area and following reports of youths carrying weapons in the locality, and this has now been extended to 3pm today (Tuesday 1 September).
“This was a serious and sustained attack that could have had far more tragic consequences,” explained Detective Superintendent, Richard Hunt .”Our team of experienced detectives is working around the clock to understand exactly what happened, identify all those involved, and secure the strongest possible evidence.
“We will relentlessly pursue every lead available to us and will leave no stone unturned in bringing all those responsible before the courts.
“Community safety remains our absolute priority, and we are committed to ensuring those who seek to bring violence onto our streets are held fully accountable for their actions.”
Can you help? Anyone who witnessed the incident, was in the town centre at the time, or has any mobile phone, CCTV, or dashcam footage, is urged to come forward and speak to police on 101, quoting log 2750 of 29/08/2026, or using the LiveChat function on the GMP website.
Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
Featured Image – GMP
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High School Musical at Lowry, Salford – a night spent reliving our childhood | Review
Amy Williams
What a night spent reliving our childhood.
Now, I don’t want to exaggerate or seem biased, considering this is one of my favourite film trilogies of all time, but this could be the best stage show I’ve seen in a long while.
We all know how High School Musical goes, right? Set at East High, we follow Troy and Gabriella (the star basketball player, and the geeky new girl) who meet over New Year, and then become ‘star-crossed lovers’ when back at school as they’re part of two different ‘cliques’.
The duo mess with the ‘Status Quo’ when they audition for the school musical. But will they stick to what they know? Or become stars of the stage? I’m sure you know the ending.
High School Musical is currently on stage at Lowry, Salford / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
From the costumes and the characters, to the memorable songs (there’s actually 52 songs in this production, including a mega mix at the end), they’ve kept right to the script of the films – and that’s exactly what we wanted to see.
Of course, the biggest throwback of them all is Kaycee Stroh – who originally featured as Martha Cox in the film trilogy – taking the role as Ms Darbus, and she was just as incredible as we expected her to be. And to see her do the iconic dance in the finale was unbelievable, 13-year-old Amy was screaming.
Also featuring Jason Donovan as Coach Bolton, Tobias Turley as Troy, Leonor Correia as Gabriella, Caitlin Tipping Sharpay, and Luke Bayer as Ryan, it was a proper impressive cast all round.
It’s a night to properly relive your mid-00s childhood / Credit: Matt Crockett (Supplied)
There was crowd interaction right from the off, as they taught the crowd a cheerleading routine to be included later in the show, plus for the finale, they had the lyrics on the big screen too so everyone could sing-along.
If we could go and see this show every single night, we would – it is absolutely brilliant.
Emily Sergeant -
22nd February 2022 
