A report by a local media outlet in the UAE has revealed that crypto scam promoters will be jailed for five years, with the law coming into effect beginning next year.

Fines And Jail Terms

Also, they may be fined at least $272.26K (or one million Dirhams). The law comes into effect following the rising interest in the digital asset sector, especially since January 2021. Already, some unscrupulous elements are exploiting the public’s lack of knowledge about the industry to exploit them. This law will checkmate their activities.

Dr. Hassan Elthais, a famous lawyer on crypto-related matters, also disclosed that the new policy would apply to promoters of unregistered digital currencies and unlicensed crypto firms. Six months ago, the Abu Dhabi police warned investors to investigate any investment scheme before investing their money in it, especially those involving digital currencies. The warning followed several successive cases of crypto-related scams at that time.

Highlights Of The New Policy

Even though the UAE’s new cybercrime policy will become effective by January 2nd, 2022, the policy details have come to light. Anyone found to be a rumormonger will be jailed for two years. Part of the law stipulates that any person guilty of using an account to misrepresent another person will face harsh punishments.

Defamation of character is also an offense under this new law. UAE’s cybercrime law is undergoing its most significant reform, with more than 40 new laws added to the previous rule. The majority of the new regulations focus on enhancing freedom for individuals. 

Hence, some laws include laws against extramarital affairs, more rights for women, and lesser stringent sharia measures on visitors and tourists. The reform is expected to entice more investors to the UAE as its laws have often been a highly controversial debate among westerners.

South Korea And America Join Forces To Crackdown Crypto Phishing Scammers

Phasing out crypto-related scams and scammers isn’t just restricted to the UAE. South Korean authorities are also doing the same. The Korean leaders are doing everything possible to identify crypto scammers and help citizens recover their stolen funds. But the Korean authorities have sought the help of the American government to crackdown a 4-year old crypto scam case.

The top law enforcement agencies from the two nations had previously collaborated on a similar case in which three out of the four suspects were arrested, with the one known as a Japanese still at large. After the arrest, almost $120K was retrieved and disbursed to the fraud victims. The suspects for the 2017 crypto phishing case were arrested following the creation of a Ripple-like website to hack registered users’ IDs and passwords. 

These suspects operated the phishing site successfully from June to December 2017. As of that time, they were accused of siphoning up to 900M WON ($758.53K) which, when adjusted for inflation, amounts to 2.45B WON ($210M) in today’s money. South Korea continues to reform its crypto policy to make the nation a leader in crypto reform policy worldwide.