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Australian police arrest man linked to bitcoin ATM 'scam activity'

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November 12, 2019

Detectives from Australia's E-Crime Squad arrested a man Monday as part of an investigation into unregistered cryptocurrency transactions in Melbourne.

The 38-year-old Cairnlea resident was arrested at home, where police seized "a substantial quantity of cash and false identification documents during the warrants, which were executed just after 7 a.m.," according to a press release. 

The man was allegedly running an unregistered cryptocurrency exchange. Despite the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, a government financial intelligence agency, sending him a cease and desist notice on Nov. 1, he continued to operate the exchange illegally. 

Detectives also seized a cryptocurrency ATM from a shopping center in nearby Braybrook as part of the investigation.

The investigation began in June following reports of "scam activity" related to the ATM, which led police to examine a number of transactions on the machine. 

Victoria police teamed up with AUSTRAC during the investigation, which was one of the first by the E-Crime Squad related to crypto.