Detectives from the City of London Police’s Fraud Squad made the arrest at 6.30am at the man’s address in south-east London.
The man, who was not named, is believed though to be part of a group that cold-called victims to persuade them to invest in a crypto currency, similar to Bitcoin, but that did not actually exist.
An investigation was launched after nine reports were made to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reporting service.
Victims losses are estimated at around £160,000 ($207,801, €176,926).
Boiler rooms on the rise
The latest early morning raid follows three arrests earlier this month linked to another suspected boiler room scam that sold wine investments.
The arrests took place at a business address in Fleet Street, once famous as the UK’s centre for journalism.
Victims were promised returns of between 8-40% and collectively invested more than £1m.
In order to get more money from victims they were then told that investors were ready to buy their wine but that to make it more attractive they would need to purchase more wine first.
An investigation was launched after 39 complaints were made to Action Fraud.
Prestigious post code
City of London Police detective inspector Mark Forster said: “Investment fraudsters are still targeting people throughout the country and they employ aggressive sales tactics which are often used to pressurise unsuspecting victims into parting with large sums of money.
“These people often base themselves in the City as they believe having an address in a prestigious financial district will help to legitimise their fraud.
“I urge anyone who is cold called and offered investment opportunities to simply put the phone down – a legitimate company will never cold call you and put you in a position where you need to make an investment on the spot.”
His colleague detective inspector Andrew Thompson said of the wine investment scam: “Fraudsters will do anything they can to manipulate potential victims and convince them that they are making genuine investments.”
