An American tourist filed a complaint this afternoon, Thursday, with the Puerto Rico Police for an alleged fraud through the Bitcoin cryptocurrency platform.
The 38-year-old victim alleged that a person stole $531,000 from him through the alleged scam.
The complaint was handled by agent Emilio Pérez, attached to the San Juan police precinct.
The case was referred to the Uniformed Criminal Investigation Corps (CIC).
Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that function as a medium of exchange and of which bitcoin is the most popular example. These acquire value by the principle of supply and demand, and with the limited issuance of ‘tokens’ available for purchase – ‘tokens’ being the term to refer to a unit of a cryptocurrency.
As the demand for the token increases, its price increases according to the cost that the buyer is willing to pay to the holder of the token.
Currently there are thousands of different cryptocurrencies, with varied objectives and functions that are not limited to a monetary investment, since they can also function as smart contracts that release payments automatically and if the conditions established to do so are met.
Its use as an investment vehicle has boomed in recent years with the acceptance of certain cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin.
