Argentina Police Arrest Five in Raid on Crypto-paying ‘Illegal Iris Scanning Gang’

Police in Argentina have arrested five people they say were scanning people’s irises in a parking lot in exchange for “crypto and cash.”

Per reports from La Nacion and the broadcaster LT9, the suspects were “offering to scan people’s irises” for crypto or fiat “in a similar way to” operators of “the Worldcoin (WLD) platform.”

Argentina Police: Group Had $600,000 in Cash

Officers arrested the group in Santa Fe’s Feria del Litoral Parking Lot, on the Avenida del Valle.

The group was arrested on suspicion of “carrying out illegal activities linked to virtual crimes” and “fraud with biometric data.”

Police did not link the alleged crime to Worldcoin. They suspect that the group may instead have been trying to harvest data to use for identity theft.

However, the suspects may have been trying to take advantage of extensive recent Argentinian media coverage focusing on Worldcoin.

They noted that the “practice” of swapping iris scans for crypto “has raised alarm among cybersecurity specialists since it involves the collection of highly sensitive biometric information.”

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Did Suspects Target Shopping Mall Customers?

Officers said the group comprises “four men and a woman,” most of whom hail from the province of Córdoba.

Police said they were “investigating the case to determine the scope of the suspects’ activities.”

They also want to establish “whether any victims” had swapped their biometric data for coins.

Officers released photographs of property they confiscated at the scene. The haul included 29 cell phones, a Volkswagen car, and over $600,000 worth of cash.

The police said they have handed the case over to Santa Fe prosecutors.

The parking lot serves a nearby shopping mall. And the media outlets reported that “a call from the security personnel” at the mall helped tip the police off.

Last month, officials in the Patagonian city of Zapala, Neuquén Province, launched a probe into a newsstand operator – or an individual working inside the booth – after allegations that the booth was being used as a center to scan citizens’ irises in exchange for crypto.