Azerbaijan detains suspects in international crypto fraud case

Main Department for Combating Cybercrime under Azerbaijan's Ministry of Internal Affairs has conducted another operation as part of international legal assistance and cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies, the ministry told Report.

Cyber police obtained operational information about Azerbaijani citizens who organized a fraud scheme disguised as online cryptocurrency trading, causing particularly large financial losses to foreign nationals.

As a result of operative measures, Malik Huseynov and Mahmud Askarli were detained. Both suspects had previously been convicted of similar crimes in Türkiye and Russia.

The investigation revealed details of the criminal scheme. Huseynov and Askarli rented office space in a shopping center in a foreign country. Huseynov then approached a currency exchange office in the same building, proposing to exchange $600,000 in counterfeit banknotes for an equivalent amount of USDT cryptocurrency. After receiving confirmation that cryptocurrency worth more than 1 million manats ($588,235) had been credited to his account, he left the country.

A criminal case has been opened in connection with the incident. By court decision, both suspects have been placed in pretrial detention. Investigative actions are currently underway.