The scammers first announced themselves in August 2022. The attackers promised investors to receive passive profits from mining and trading on the cryptocurrency market. According to the state media, already in February of this year HoggPool suddenly ceased its activities, and the company’s representatives disappeared along with the investors’ money. The scammers’ plans included the launch of another scam project, the attempt to implement which was stopped by the authorities. 3367 SIM cards, 95 mobile phones and 41 foreign bank cards were seized during the arrest of the participants of the criminal group.
Recall that since 2018, all transactions with cryptocurrencies have been banned in Egypt, in accordance with the laws of Islam. According to the Government of the African country, digital assets are often used for the purpose of tax evasion, laundering of funds obtained by criminal means and other illegal actions.
Thus, for the entire banking sector of Egypt, there is a ban on the issue, sale and promotion of digital assets without a valid license from the central bank of Egypt. The penalty for using cryptocurrency in the country is punishable by imprisonment or a fine of $325,000.
It should be noted that even such strict measures have not affected the demand for cryptocurrencies in Egypt, which remains at a high level.
Let me remind you that Egypt has been going through a protracted economic crisis in recent years, only since March 2022 the Egyptian pound has lost 50% of its value against the US dollar.