Moroccan authorities make arrests for crypto fraud operation

Moroccan authorities make arrests for crypto fraud operation

Moroccan authorities have arrested five individuals in connection with an alleged cryptocurrency fraud operation.

The suspects, aged between 24 and 48, were detained earlier this week in Salé, following a complaint received through international law enforcement cooperation channels.

As per the news on Hespress, they are suspected of being involved in a phishing scam that targeted foreign citizens by sending malicious emails. The emails were designed to steal the victims’ digital wallet information containing cryptocurrency, which was then converted into cash via their personal bank accounts.

During the investigation, police seized a sum of money believed to be linked to the criminal activities, along with electronic devices, including a computer and mobile phones, which may contain digital evidence of the hacking operations.

The suspects are currently being held in police custody as part of a preliminary investigation, overseen by the public prosecutor’s office, to uncover the full details of the case and identify all individuals involved in the criminal network.

In April 2024 a 21-year-old Frenchman, Thomas Clausi, was convicted Thursday in Morocco of “fraud” and illegal use of cryptocurrency and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

He was also slapped with a fine of about 3.4 million euros.

Incarcerated since December 23, 2021, Clausi, who presented himself as an entrepreneur before the judge, appeared before the criminal chamber of the court of Casablanca, competent for criminal cases.

He was accused of “fraud” and “payment with foreign currency on Moroccan territory”, in particular for having used bitcoins to buy a luxury car.

This comes a week after the Central Bank governor in Morocco stated that the crypto regulations will soon be out and are currently being adopted.

Moroccan Central Bank says crypto regulations in adoption phase

Moroccan Central Bank says crypto regulations in adoption phase

The Moroccan Central Bank’s governor Abdellatif Jouahri announced on November 26th that the digital asset/crypto regulation law has been prepared and is in the adoption phase.


The Moroccan Central Bank also known as Bank Al Maghrib worked on its crypto and digital asset’s regulation alongside the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund).


Despite the lack of crypto regulations in Morocco, it is one of the fastest growing crypto markets both globally and in the MENA region. As Per Chainalysis’ Geography of Cryptocurrency report for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2024, Morocco ranked 20th worldwide for crypto adoption. In addition, Morocco received the highest crypto transaction value of MENA’s African bloc comparing it to Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.


The report for 2024 noted, “MENA includes two countries ranked in the top 30 of the global crypto adoption indexes: Türkiye (11th) and Morocco (27th), capturing $137 billion and $12.7 billion of value received, respectively.”
The announcement was made during the High-Level Regional Symposium on Financial Stability.


Jouahri noted, “Bank Al-Maghrib has prepared, with the participation of all stakeholders and with the support of the World Bank, a draft law governing crypto assets which is currently in the adoption process.”


He also mentioned that work in CBDCs ( Central Bank Digital Currencies) and the work the Moroccan government is doing in this domain especially as CBDCs can increase financial inclusion.


He added, “We launched the MDBC project more than three years ago with the aim of anticipating and guiding the strategic choices and decisions of Bank Al-Maghrib in this area. The project also aims to strengthen our capacities and expertise on this complex and multidimensional subject.


The Central Bank of Morocco considers this a long-term undertaking, and has impact on the monetary policy and financial stability.
Earlier this year, Morocco announced its Moroccan digital 2030 strategy to continue $10.35 billion to GDP. As per the strategy, the country seeks to create 240,000 jobs in the digital sector by 2030, which it expects will contribute 100 billion dirhams ($10.36 billion dollars) to the country’s gross domestic product while increasing digital export revenues to 40 billion dirhams ($4.15 billion).
The Moroccan Agency for Digital Development (ADD) will play a central role in supporting the digitalization of public administrations according to the head of the government, while a unified digital portal will standardize administrative procedures across various stages.