Ten Charged in UK Phone Scam After £300,000 Crypto Theft

Ten people have been charged after an alleged phone scam in which callers impersonated police officers and representatives of cryptocurrency firms to obtain wallet seed phrases. The arrests followed coordinated raids in late April.

Officers from the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit executed search warrants at 6 a.m. on April 29 at addresses in Chelmsford, Enfield, south London and Wakefield. The operation included support from Kent Police, the City of London Police, the Metropolitan Police and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit.

All ten suspects were charged with conspiracy to defraud and appeared at Margate Magistrates’ Court on April 30. Three defendants — Brandon Mingeli, 25, and Jami Durston‑McDonnel, 28, both of Chelmsford, and Louis Richards‑Miller, 24, of Greenwich — were remanded in custody. The other seven were granted bail. The next hearing is scheduled for May 28 at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Prosecutors say the suspects ran phone-based frauds that targeted cryptocurrency holders. Callers posed as police officers or representatives of crypto companies and persuaded victims to reveal their wallet seed phrases. A seed phrase is the set of words that gives access to a cryptocurrency wallet; once it is disclosed, funds can be transferred out and are typically unrecoverable.

At least one victim lost £300,000, authorities reported.

ERSOU issued a public warning on the methods used in the case. The unit warned that police will not ask about a person’s crypto holdings or request seed phrases or private keys. Officers advised people not to click links in unsolicited messages and to enter a seed phrase only directly on a hardware wallet during setup or recovery. Members of the public who receive a suspicious call claiming to be from law enforcement should verify the call by phoning 101.

The arrests come amid several high-value cryptocurrency thefts investigated in England this year. Police have probed cases in which attackers coerced victims into transferring large sums, including an incident involving a forced transfer worth about $1.5 million and the theft of an expensive watch. In a separate case, teenagers who posed as delivery drivers were sentenced after stealing £3.1 million in cryptocurrency; police later traced and returned the stolen funds.

The May 28 hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court will determine whether the prosecution will proceed to trial.