Binance announced that it has prevented over $2.4 billion in losses from potential scams and fraudulent activities that could have impacted more than 1.2 million users from January to July 2024 owing to its risk management measures. According to the official press release shared with CryptoPotato, Binance employs an internal risk engine that provides 24/7...Read More
On Tuesday, a cryptocurrency whale suffered a loss, with approximately $55.4 million worth of Dai stablecoin stolen in a phishing attack. According to the blockchain security firm CertiK, the attacker likely used a phishing tool known as Inferno Drainer to gain access to the whale’s externally owned account (EOA). Inferno Drainer Phishing Attack The incident...Read More
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced today that it has dismantled over 600 cryptocurrency scams in the past 12 months. This announcement comes as ASIC marks the first anniversary of its investment scam disruption initiative, revealing that more than 7,300 phishing and fraudulent websites have been taken down over the past year. Australians...Read More
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has determined that the cryptocurrency trading platform ezBtc and its founder, David Smillie, defrauded investors of approximately $9.5 million, equivalent to 13 million Canadian dollars, in crypto assets. The BCSC’s investigation uncovered that ezBtc and Smillie engaged in misleading and deceptive practices, misappropriating funds intended for customer accounts. Crypto...Read More
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against NovaTech Ltd. and its principals, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, for allegedly organizing a crypto fraud that defrauded over 200,000 investors worldwide, including many within the Haitian-American community. The SEC’s complaint details that NovaTech, under the leadership of the Petions, was promoted as a multi-level...Read More
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has released information regarding North Korean developers who allegedly stole $1.3 million from a project’s treasury. The theft was carried out when the devs, who had been hired using fake identities, injected malicious code into the system, which allowed the unauthorized transfer of funds. ZachXBT Uncovers Crypto Workers Scheme ZachXBT explained on...Read More
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has uncovered that over 2,000 cryptocurrency wallets owned by locals were compromised by offshore scammers, putting millions of dollars in digital assets at risk. This discovery emerged from Operation Spincaster, a global initiative against crypto fraud spearheaded by Chainalysis and locally managed by the AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre...Read More
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Nader Al-Naji with orchestrating a multi-million-dollar fraudulent crypto asset scheme involving the social media platform BitClout and its native token BTCLT. The securities regulator’s complaint revealed that Al-Naji raised over $257 million through unregistered offers and sales of BTCLT in November...Read More
Prominent on-chain sleuth ZachXBT has recently uncovered compelling evidence linking convicted UK hacker Gurv – whose real name is Gurvinder Bhangu – to the recent compromises of American actress Sydney Sweeney’s and ‘Breaking Bad’ actor Bob Odenkirk’s X accounts. This resulted in over $530,000 stolen through Solana meme coin scams. SWEENEY Pump and Dump On...Read More
American multinational investment giant – BlackRock – has recently reported a significant increase in investment-related scams, particularly those that direct individuals to crypto investment websites or social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. The company has cautioned its investors when engaging with individuals, websites, or social media platforms using BlackRock’s brand to offer training or...Read More
Hong Kong native and crypto promoter Wong Ching-kit has entered the radar of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) for his suspected role in several criminal cases, the latest being a cryptocurrency scam involving over HK$3 million ($384,310). According to a report from the South China Morning Post, Interpol has issued a red notice against...Read More
Russian-speaking threat actors who come from former Soviet Union are the primary drivers of various types of crypto-related cybercrime, including ransomware, illegal crypto exchanges, and darknet markets, according to the latest report by TRM Labs. In fact, ransomware groups that speak Russian were also found to be responsible for at least 69% of all ransomware...Read More
Three individuals have been arrested by the Hong Kong police suspected of defrauding a businessman out of HK$3.11 million, worth around $399,000, in crypto assets by offering him three bundles of counterfeit HK$1,000 banknotes. The officers reportedly confiscated 10,978 fake HK$1,000 banknotes during a raid on the Mong Kok office, where the fraudulent transaction took...Read More
Popular crypto privacy protocol Railgun has successfully thwarted Inferno Drainer’s latest effort to launder stolen funds, which were sent back to the original wallet’s address. According to a July 10 post by SlowMist’s anti-money laundering tracking system, MistTrack on X, an attempt to launder over 174 ETH, worth around $533,000 at the time, was intercepted...Read More
Infamous scam-as-a-service kingpin ‘Pink Drainer’ appears to have found itself on the receiving end of the very type of scheme it once peddled. According to an update shared by MisTrack, a crypto compliance platform, the notorious wallet-draining group lost about $30,000 worth of Ethereum due to an “address poisoning” scam on July 7. With this...Read More
Private key leaks were identified as the leading cause of crypto thefts in the second quarter of 2024 by cybersecurity firm SlowMist’s investigative branch, MisTrack. The report highlighted many instances wherein users stored their private keys or mnemonic phrases in cloud storage services like Google Docs, Tencent Docs, Baidu Cloud, and Shimo Docs. Private Key...Read More
Two men have been sentenced for manipulating the price of Hydrogen Technology’s cryptocurrency, HYDRO, and scheming to defraud investors. This case marks the first time a jury in a federal criminal trial has classified a cryptocurrency as a security and found that price manipulation of cryptocurrency constitutes securities fraud. $300M HYDRO Crypto Fraud Scheme Court...Read More
Football legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho has hinted at a return to the cryptocurrency scene. On June 23, he posted on X, declaring it was time for the asset class to “go mainstream” and urged his followers to join him. However, this announcement has not been met with enthusiasm. Instead, it caused criticism and skepticism from the...Read More
Juan Tacuri, 46, of Greenacres, Florida, a senior promoter behind the Forcount cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the Southern District of New York. The scheme, which reaped $8.4 million from primarily Spanish-speaking investors, has been described as one of the more shocking frauds targeting vulnerable communities. Forcount...Read More
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) indicted Bill Guan, the chief financial officer of Epoch Times, on Tuesday. The DOJ alleges that Guan was involved in an international scheme to launder around $67 million of illicit funds using cryptocurrency. The Scam From 2020 to May 2024, Bill Guan engaged in a large-scale international money laundering...Read More
New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against NovaTechFx, a crypto trading company, and AWS Mining, a digital asset mining company. The lawsuit alleges their involvement in illegal pyramid schemes that defrauded over 11,000 individuals and hundreds of thousands of investors, resulting in losses exceeding a billion dollars in cryptocurrency. $1 Billion...Read More
Wrestling legend Hulk Hogan is alleged to have promoted a Solana-based meme coin named HULKAMANIA (HULK) online and then deleted the posts, leading to a decline in the token’s market value. The meme coin’s market capitalization dropped from $17 million to $2 million in a matter of minutes. Hulk Hogan Denies Promotional Posts As reported...Read More
85-year-old former attorney David Kagel has admitted guilt in a conspiracy to operate a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme, defrauding victims of over $9.5 million. Once a legal authority figure in Beverly Hills, California, Kagel now faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for his involvement in the Ponzi scheme. Crypto Ponzi Scheme Kagel stood...Read More
According to blockchain security firm CertiK, the cryptocurrency sector lost $42.6 million in May to exploits, flash loans, and exit scams. Despite these setbacks, approximately $96.2 million was recovered, offering some relief from the economic impact. Flash Loan Attacks Dominate Blockchain Losses Flash loan attacks caused the largest losses in the crypto sector, totaling approximately...Read More
In a high-profile case involving a massive cryptocurrency fraud, a British-Chinese woman, Jian Wen, has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for her role in laundering Bitcoin proceeds from a $6 billion investment scam in China. Wen, aged 42, was found guilty in March of laundering Bitcoin on behalf of her...Read More
Rashawn Russell, a former investment banker, has been sentenced to 41 months in jail for wire fraud related to a cryptocurrency and access device fraud. Russell’s sentencing took place at the Eastern New York District Court in Brooklyn after his September 2023 guilty plea. Former Banker’s $1.5 Million Crypto Fraud Prosecutors detailed that Russell began...Read More
Prominent US-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the launch of a new initiative called ‘Tech Against Scams’ along with industry leaders Meta, Ripple, Gemini, Kraken, Match Group, and GASO. This coalition aims to tackle online fraud and financial schemes while simultaneously protecting and educating users, highlighting that scams are a tech-wide issue, not restricted to social...Read More
Hong Kong police have taken into custody three employees of a currency exchange shop who are suspected of engaging in fraudulent activities. This followed an incident where a customer at the shop reportedly encountered stacks of “hell money” before executing a cryptocurrency transfer worth approximately HK$1 million. Hong Kong Authorities Arrest 3 for Crypto Fraud...Read More
After wreaking havoc across the digital asset sector and stealing millions of dollars, scam-as-a-service kingpin ‘Pink Drainer’ has vowed to erase all traces of its operations and announced the winding down of its nefarious infrastructure. In an unexpected statement shared via Telegram, Pink Drainer, the wallet drainer tool known for siphoning funds from cryptocurrency wallets,...Read More
The individual associated with a recent $71 million wallet phishing attack has finally begun transferring the funds to new addresses. The scammer’s wallet remained inactive for the last six days after converting the stolen 1,155 WBTC into around 23,000 ETH. Scammer Transfers Stolen Crypto The bad actor stole Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) on May 3 after...Read More
