LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Metro police have arrested a cryptocurrency trader after a victim contacted police in late 2020 and reported $500,000 in bitcoin was routed to unknown accounts.
Filippos Liakounakos, 23, is charged with theft, identity theft and a felony act involving email/electronic transactions of computer data.
The $500,000 disappeared — $450,000 for bitcoin and a $50,000 seller’s fee — as the victim was trying to buy 24.109 bitcoin.
The victim contacted IC3.gov and filed a report.
Metro detectives initially reviewed the case and tried to trace the destination of the cryptocurrency, but they didn’t have enough information. Then the victim contacted detectives on Dec. 3, 2020, and told them he had been able to contact the suspect again. That contact provided information crucial to the investigation.
Metro detectives used electronic signatures in internet communications to trace emails and financial transactions involving bitcoin to Liakounakos, and issued a warrant in July last year. Liakounakos is in the Clark County Detention Center on $25,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
According to a Metro warrant document, the victim had made contact online with a person who was mentoring him through the cryptocurrency world, and in late November of 2020, they communicated online through a service called Telegram leading up to the transaction.
Through records of the emails and transactions, police traced an elaborate attempt to deceive the victim and make it more difficult to detect the true identity behind the accounts. Search warrants sent to Microsoft and Google helped police break through those attempts to trace the true identity back to Liakounos, according to the warrant report.
Police had been able to tie Liakounakos to a Florida driver’s license, as well as a recovery address in Greece.
