Olympic Sprinter Can’t Outrun Charges in UK Crypto Fraud Investigation

British sprinter CJ Ujah has been charged within the U.Ok. for his alleged position in a cryptocurrency fraud operation that police say focused victims by means of impersonation scams designed to steal funds from crypto wallets.

On Thursday, the U.Ok. Regional Organized Crime Models (ROCUs) said 10 individuals have been charged with conspiracy to defraud following coordinated raids throughout Kent, Essex, London, and Wakefield on April 29.

“It’s alleged the suspects have been a part of an organized crime group linked to a rip-off which concerned telephone calls to a number of victims, from individuals purporting to be cops and cryptocurrency corporations,” the company mentioned in an announcement.

Police mentioned victims have been tricked into sharing seed phrases and different personal pockets restoration particulars earlier than discovering their cryptocurrency had been stolen. Whereas UK authorities didn’t point out which crypto belongings have been stolen, one sufferer allegedly misplaced greater than £300,000.

Seed phrases operate as restoration keys for a lot of cryptocurrency wallets. Anybody with entry to the phrase can restore the pockets and switch its funds, making them a frequent goal in phishing and impersonation scams.

All 10 suspects appeared in courtroom on April 30. Three individuals, together with British athlete Brandon Mingeli, have been saved in custody till their subsequent courtroom listening to on Could 28. The opposite seven suspects, together with Ujah, have been launched on bail.

Ujah rose to prominence serving to Nice Britain win 4×100-meter relay gold on the 2017 World Championships in what grew to become Usain Bolt’s closing race. He later obtained a 22-month ban after testing optimistic for prohibited substances on the Tokyo Olympics, costing the group its relay silver medal. Athletics authorities later dominated that contaminated dietary supplements induced the failed check. He returned to competitors in 2024, however has not raced since April 2025.

Crypto scams have more and more shifted towards social engineering and phishing schemes that trick victims into voluntarily giving up pockets entry or transferring funds. Blockchain safety agency Rip-off Sniffer mentioned almost 4,700 wallets have been drained by means of signature phishing assaults in January alone. In April, Elon Musk’s X rolled out new options geared toward stopping crypto-related crimes on the location.

U.Ok. Police warned residents to watch out of sudden calls or messages asking for pockets info.

“Police won’t ever name you unexpectedly about your crypto or ask you to entry your chilly storage units—this can be a large crimson flag,” authorities wrote. “No respectable firm or police officer will ever ask to your seed phrase.”