The detective who taught police how to seize cryptocurrency in Alicante
Javier Fadón, a former military officer turned private detective, was instrumental in the RentBitcoin case and helped security forces develop protocols for seizing digital assets.
The blockchain specialist who trained officers in digital asset seizure
Five years ago, the National Police arrested the alleged mastermind of the scam known as RentBitcoin in Alicante, a scheme that allegedly allowed approximately ten million euros to be stolen from around 140 people. According to informacion.es, behind that operation was Javier Fadón, a former military officer and former royal guard turned private detective specialising in blockchain.
Fadón located nearly thirty wallets—virtual portfolios—containing around a thousand bitcoins, which at that time were valued at more than 50,000 euros each. It was he who presented this information to Court Number 8 of Alicante, which made it possible to decree three years of preventive detention for the alleged person responsible for the scheme. The case is still pending trial.
Protocols for police when none existed
At the time of the investigation, even specialised units such as the UDEF had difficulties operating with digital assets. Fadón worked closely with the officers and provided them with guidelines for the seizure and custody of crypto-assets: he instructed officials in the use of specific tools, such as blocking assets from platforms like Binance, and emphasised the importance of securing the physical terminals—computers and mobile phones—that contained the private keys.
The detective recalls the "helplessness" that the victims felt: they did not know what had happened to their money and how to locate it. Fadón points out that one of the advantages of the blockchain is precisely its traceability, as the records cannot be altered and there is always a trace of the transactions, contrary to what is commonly believed.
The human factor as the weakest link
Despite the technical complexity, Fadón argues that the problem is not the crypto-asset itself, but the use that scammers make of it to orchestrate Ponzi or pyramid schemes. The "modus operandi" detected by his firm, JF Star Detectives, follows emotional patterns: criminals use social networks such as Telegram or Tinder, rely on figures of authority or celebrity to generate a false sense of reliability, and offer promises of absurd returns that act as bait for victims who, driven by greed or ignorance, continue to increase their invested capital.
The investigation at the firm always begins in an "analogue" manner, with an interview with the affected party. "For us, from the outset, everyone is a necessary collaborator," Fadón states, alluding to the need to distinguish between actual victims and those who helped recruit new investors.
The transparency of blockchain as an evidentiary tool
Fadón defines blockchain technology as a "ledger" where everything is recorded and is public. The difficulty lies in identifying who is behind each private key, but the traceability of movements is, paradoxically, more traceable than cash money.
The technical process at his firm relies on specialised software, including proprietary software, which makes it possible to certify the traceability of an asset from its purchase to its successive movements between wallets. That level of detail is what enables presenting solid evidence to the Public Prosecutor's Office that "dislocates" the scammers, who frequently believe that the anonymity of cryptocurrencies is absolute.
Author, disseminator and police speaker
The experience accumulated in the courts has led Fadón to publish the book The Penalty of Crypto Fraud, recently presented at the Bar Association of Valencia, where he analyses this phenomenon. At the same time, he develops a role as a disseminator on social networks, where he is known as Detective Cripto. He continues to collaborate with the National Police and has participated as a speaker at C1b3rWall, a congress aimed at informing officers of the latest technological advances and their application in the fight against crime.
The demand does not cease: the firm receives between seven and eight cases daily related to cryptocurrency scams. Fadón insists that digital assets are not bad in themselves, but serve as an excuse for much older structures, such as pyramids, in which profitability is only sustained as long as new victims arrive. Furthermore, it is most common that the supposed cryptocurrencies launched by criminals do not even exist.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)