18 months in prison – crypto scammer: “Had pangs of conscience”

Under the alias Sebastian Morelli, a Kosovar (33) cheated bona fide victims with a crypto platform for their money. He was also part of a worldwide fraud construct. For him, there was a non-binding prison sentence in Salzburg.

Actually, the accused, an innocent Kosovar (33), is just a small wheel in the globally operating fraud construct with the “Option 888” trading platform. Günter Geißler, chief public prosecutor of the WKStA, speaks of Internet fraud through crypto platforms at the trial on Tuesday in the Salzburg Regional Court: “The perfidious thing is: As long as you pay in, you win. You get burned if you don’t make a deposit.” Using special software that can be used to manipulate courses. “It looks like you’ve lost it.” the victims. “He stole 1.2 million euros with this scam,” emphasizes the public prosecutor, mentioning 39 Austrian victims between April 2017 and January 2018. The Kosovar made a lot of money from bonus payments, the defense attorney emphasizes: “He was a simple employee in Pristina.” Almost the last wheel in this construct, with which the masterminds made a total of 250 million euros worldwide. “He only did what he was told.” “Ashamed of me” Without hesitation, the 33-year-old declared himself guilty: Because of his knowledge of German, he worked in call centers. “The high salary seemed strange to me, but I was in debt.” There was training as well as guidelines: “I knew that the customer would lose money as soon as he wanted to pay it off.” The wrong brokers had to put pressure on the customers: “I had pangs of conscience from the start. I’m incredibly sorry, I’m ashamed.” The non-final verdict: 18 months unconditional imprisonment.
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