Unlike the BCC token that died several years ago, the case of Bitconnect – the cryptocurrency project that gave rise to the aforementioned cryptocurrency – is still far from over. This Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that one of BitConnect’s founders was formally indicted on fraud charges associated with the most famous Ponzi...Read More
An investor in non-fungible token (NFT) and metaverse projects, Animoca Brands, today issued a scam alert regarding a new ERC-20 token, dubbed “Animoca Brands Metaverse” on Uniswap V2. The Hong Kong-based firm said the asset fraudulently claims to be associated with it and uses the symbol “Animoca.” The Fraudulent Animoca Brands Metaverse Token According to...Read More
A top official at India’s central bank recently reiterated warnings to Prime Minister Modi’s government about the risks cryptocurrencies pose to the country’s financial system. This time, he compared digital assets to “Ponzi schemes”, mirroring some investors’ long-held criticisms of the asset class. Crypto Is A Ponzi, Says RBI Governor T. Rabi Sankar of the...Read More
The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has reportedly taken down four major illegal Dark Web sites, which have made over $260 million in cryptocurrency proceeds from the sale of stolen credit cards. Those platforms are Ferum Shop, Trump’s Dumps, Sky-Fraud forum, and UAS Store. The Latest Seizures Known as “carding” websites, these illicit platforms offer...Read More
Fortescue Metals Group Chairman Andrew Forrest has filed a criminal case against Facebook in Australia for its failure to stop scam ads featuring his image. According to the Australian mining billionaire, this is the first time that Facebook is facing a criminal charge anywhere in the world. “I’m doing this on behalf of innocent Australians...Read More
An anonymous UK resident reportedly parted with nearly $200,000 of his savings after a woman he messaged in a dating app conned him. The man admitted he felt so desperate after the scam that he considered taking his life. ‘In The Blink of an Eye, Everything Was Gone’ According to a recent coverage by BBC,...Read More
Earlier this morning, a mysterious video called “One World Cryptocurrency” was posted across numerous popular crypto/ finance YouTube channels – without the owners’ permission. The video has all the appearances of a giveaway scam. “One World Cryptocurrency” The minute-long video features promotion of a supposedly new BSC token called “One World Cryptocurrency” (Ticker: OWCY). It...Read More
The public security bureau of Chizhou city in the eastern province of Anhui has frozen six million yuan or nearly $1 million worth of crypto assets and arrested eight people for defrauding its investors since last year. Rug Pull Crypto Scam Chinese authorities have arrested eight in a rug pull scam involving 50 million yuan...Read More
A confirmed scam address impersonating MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor has received over $1.1 million in bitcoin in January alone. The CEO of the NASDAQ-listed company later revealed that his team reports such addresses almost constantly but to little-to-no avail. Impersonating scams in the crypto industry are a growing threat in which the perpetrators pretend to be...Read More
In yet another concerning development, the prominent blockchain security firm, Peckshield, revealed looking into more than 50 potentially dubious projects on Binance Smart Chain(BSC). Rug Potentials on Binance Smart Chain Rug pulls were a frequent occurrence in the crypto space in 2021. In this kind of scam, developers of a DeFi project abandon it unexpectedly...Read More
The police in South Africa are looking into a possible crypto scam case after an investment company attempted to reimburse some investors from the now-defunct Africrypt exchange. Police Launch Closer Look at Africrypt Bloomberg informed that South African Police forces across four provinces, including Durban and Johannesburg, are currently investigating reports in connection to the...Read More
Johann Steynberg, a South African known for running the multi-million dollar Ponzi scam Mirror Trading International (MTI), was recently arrested in Brazil. This would be yet another large-scale arrest for the country. A few months ago, Claudio Oliveira of the Bitcoin Banco group was also put behind bars for the disappearance of 7,000 Bitcoin from...Read More
It appears that hackers are finding new avenues to exploit non-suspecting victims and take advantage of their computing power. This time, the primary tool to use are leaks of the new Spide-Man: No Way Home movie. Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered on December 17th, 2021 – merely a week ago, in the US. For the short...Read More
The healthcare services firm “Ask the Doctor” recently added 31 billion Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens to its balance sheet. However, the company’s support towards the memecoin did not last much. The fact that Shiba Inu’s founders have not revealed their real identities shows that the project is a scam, “Ask the Doctor” claimed. The latter...Read More
Impersonation scams are a growing threat in the cryptocurrency community, and a large number of victims continue to fall for them. The latest such example involved MicroStrategy’s CEO, and someone sent two BTC to a fake giveaway address using his name. In giveaway scams, bad actors typically impersonate a well-known figure and promote deceiving campaigns...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained a judgment against Glenn Arcaro – the lead promoter of the alleged fraudulent scheme BitConnect. According to the regulator, he promoted it to retail investors in the States and used his company – Future Money Ltd. – to lure traders into the scam. The SEC Is on...Read More
When a cryptocurrency asset grows in popularity and price rapidly, it tends to attract the attention of bad actors. This seems to be the case with Shiba Inu, which became among the most talked-about digital assets in the past few months, and now the team behind it has asserted that fake accounts carrying the same...Read More
According to data provided by the blockchain analysis company – Elliptic – investors have lost $12 billion to criminals targeting decentralized finance platforms since the beginning of 2021. More than $10 billion of that amount accounts for cases of fraud and theft on DeFi products. Seven Times More Than in 2020 Over the recent years,...Read More
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned about an “increase in scammers” employing crypto ATMs and Quick Response (QR) codes for fraudulent activities. The agency gave valuable tips on how individuals can protect themselves on such occasions. Beware When Using Crypto ATMs Quick Response codes – machine-scannable images that can instantly be read using a...Read More
Google’s Threat Analysis Group revealed that cybercriminals have been targeting YouTube content creators in phishing campaigns for the last two years. The bad actors often hijack their channels and either sell them back for a higher price or employ them to broadcast digital asset scams. YouTubers, Stay Alert In its report, Google’s team explained that...Read More
The number of cryptocurrency-related crimes in the United Kingdom has significantly surged in the first nine months of 2021 comparing to last year, reads a recent report. The local police warned that bad actors often use a fake celebrity endorsement to lure people in. Youngsters Are The Most in Danger According to a recent Bloomberg...Read More
The Federal Bureau of Investigation partnered up with the Israeli Police to arrest 26 people alleged of offenses related to digital currencies employment. While the operation happened in Tel Aviv, it involved victims who all reside abroad. Detaining The Criminals According to a local report, the FBI and the Tel Aviv district fraud unit of...Read More
American online streaming giant Netflix is preparing to release a documentary, which focuses on the death of Gerald Cotten, founder and CEO of the now-defunct Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, QuadrigaCX. Netflix made the announcement via Twitter on Thursday (September 23, 2021), with the documentary titled “Trust no One: The Hunt for the Crypto King.” According to...Read More
The 24-year-old Australian national – Stefan He Qin – will spend the next 90 months in federal prison for defrauding his customers out of $90 million. The courts also ordered him to forfeit nearly $55 million from the embezzled money. The Road to Prison According to a press release from the United States Department of...Read More
Years after halting its services, the saga with BitConnect has taken another turn as the SEC has filed an action against the founder and some of the promoters. The Commission has alleged that they have swiped more than $2 billion from retail investors through an unregistered offering of digital assets. The SEC Files Charges Against...Read More
The Brazilian Federal police exposed a local financial pyramid scheme and confiscated nearly $30 million in cryptocurrencies. The operation marked the largest seizure of digital assets in the history of Brazil. The New Record According to a report by CNN Brazil, the local authorities organized a special mission, called “Operation Kryptos,” to halt a fraudulent...Read More
The authorities in Texas sentenced the CEO of AriseBank – Jared Rice, Sr. – to spend the next five years in federal prison. Apart from the jail time, the criminal would have to restore approximately $4,250,000, which he embezzled from investors throughout his cryptocurrency-related schemes. Justice at Last According to a recent press release from...Read More
Afek Zard – an Israeli resident – will spend the next eight years behind bars for stealing 75,000 DASH coins worth 22 million Shekels or roughly $7 million from a close friend. Apart from the jail time, the man will pay a fine of $1.5 million and compensation to the victim for $80,000. Beware of...Read More
The Securities and Exchange Commission has targeted the Cayman Island-based Blockchain Credit Partners (BCP), along with Gregory Keough and Derek Acree, for selling unregistered securities from February 2020 to February 2021. $30 Million Trough Token Sales According to a recent press release, the executives allegedly used smart contracts to sell two types of tokens that...Read More
The blockchain data provider Chainalysis revealed that Chinese cryptocurrency accounts had sent over $2.2 billion worth of digital assets to addresses tied to criminal activities such as frauds and darknet transactions in a period of around two years. However, large-scale Ponzi schemes are less popular in China than in other countries. Cryptocurrencies Fueled Illegal Operations...Read More
