Six people have been arrested in Britain and the Netherlands by police investigating a £22 million cryptocurrency theft from thousands of bitcoin holders across the world.
Five men and a woman were detained after dawn raids across the south-west of England, Amsterdam and Rotterdam on Tuesday morning, the South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit (SWRCCU) said.
Teams seized "a large number of devices, equipment and valuable assets".
It follows a 14-month investigation by multiple agencies including Europol - the European Union's police agency - and the National Crime Agency (NCA).
They have been investigating allegations of "typo-squatting", where a well-known online cryptocurrency exchange is imitated with a very similar website address to gain access to victims' bitcoin wallets.
More than 4,000 victims in 12 countries are thought to have been affected so far, while numbers continue to grow, Europol said.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that works without the need for a central bank, and can be sent over the internet.
Coins are transferred directly from person to person, and are kept in a digital wallet that can be accessed on a computer or mobile device.
A 33-year-old man from Charlcome, Bath, a 30-year-old man from Lower Weston, Bath and a 37-year-old man from Staverton in Wilshire, were arrested on suspicion of computer misuse and money laundering.
The suspects in the Netherlands, two men aged 21 and 26 and a 19-year-old woman, were arrested on suspicion of money laundering.
Detective Inspector Louise Boyce from the SWRCCU said: "The investigation has grown from a single report of £17,000 worth of bitcoin stolen from a Wiltshire-based victim to a current estimate of more than 4,000 victims in at least 12 countries.
"We expect that number to grow."
