OXFORD, U.K. — Wybbo Wiersma, 40, has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison for stealing more than £2 million in cryptocurrency following a worldwide investigation.
Wiersma, originally from Gorredijk, The Netherlands, was living in Oxford when he was arrested in January 2019. He pleaded guilty to theft on the second day of his trial. Authorities said many victims lost their life savings and, in some cases, their businesses.
The South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) led the investigation, which involved over 100 victims across the globe. On 23 January 2019, police raided an Oxford property and seized computers, cash, and drugs linked to the theft.
The crime involved IOTA cryptocurrency, controlled through an 81-character code. Wiersma allegedly set up a website under an alias to generate these codes and gain control of victims’ tokens, moving the stolen funds through a web of trading accounts.
After his arrest, Wiersma returned to The Netherlands and was extradited to the U.K. in 2021. Det Insp Rob Bryant of SEROCU said, “This was a particularly complex investigation… We will make every effort to reunite victims with funds seized during the investigation.”
The criminal probe also involved state police in Hesse, Germany, and Europol, highlighting the international scale of the operation.
