Auscoin Bitcoin ATM Company Gets Associated With Being A Global Drug Dealer By Authorities

Bitcoin ATM Company Auscoin Accused Of Being A Front For International Drug Smulling By The Australian Police

A very curious case happened in Australia recently. The two creators of Auscoin, a Bitcoin ATM company, Steen McBeth and Sam Karagiozis, were accused by the local police of using the company to deal with drugs internationally. Both will face life sentences if they are convicted by their crimes.

Now, the two entrepreneurs accused of turning into criminals are facing several drug-related charges. According to the local police, they acquired drugs using sites on the darkweb and then used their company to ship them to Australia. The buyers of the drugs often paid using Bitcoin.

Investigations started after the Australian authorities found several packages of cocaine, ketamine, and ecstasy on the border, in Melbourne. This happened initially in February 2017 and the police took eight months to associate the two business owners with the drug operation.

During their arrest, the police found even more drugs with them, as well as expensive cars like Lamborghinis and BMWs.

Now, most of the assets of the duo have been restrained by the police. Karagiozis also owned a Bitcoin exchange called SK BTC and two restaurants in Greece, as well as real assets. The bank accounts, cars and other assets of the two alleged criminals are being held in custody by the police at the moment.

Auscoin Grew Suspiciously Quick

Auscoin, which was created late in 2017, was an Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)-licensed company. The company had a goal of installing at least 1,200 ATMs in Australia, however, it was only able to install 30 of them.

Despite not reaching its target, however, the members of the company had an impressive revenue. The company tried to raise $30 million AUD with an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) last year, but it was only able to get $2 million AUD at the time.

However, the company is said to be doing well despite all these issues. In January, Karagiozis affirmed that the company had a total revenue of $500,000 USD a week. Even with the failed ICO, only 30 ATMs and the dropping price of BTC, the company still had a lot of profit to show the investors.

The brand actually had become very notorious. The owners were pretty famous in the country and they were used to a lavish lifestyle. They owned expensive cars and often boasted their wealth on social media. Just a few days before being arrested, McBeth was photographed on Disneyland, in the U. S.

Seeing how unsuccessful the company’s projects were, the picture gets considerably clearer: the shady activities done by the owners were fuelling the “business” and they probably used the company for money laundering.

If your company is failing and you are driving BMWs and Lamborghinis, something’s amiss, and the Australian police were able to identify the problems and solve them quickly this time.

Better think twice before using cryptocurrencies in order to make illegal activities, right? Bitcoin is always trackable by the police, which is something that it looks like the owners of Auscoin simply did not see it coming.