Blockchain analytics company Elliptic said that its researchers have made progress in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to detect money laundering in Bitcoin. A recent paper detailing this research was co-authored with researchers from the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab. Elliptic revealed a successful identification of illicit proceeds deposited at a cryptocurrency exchange, new patterns of money...Read More
A New York court and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have revealed an indictment against Idin Dalpour. The 39-year-old New York resident is accused of organizing a sophisticated Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of $43 million. $43 Million Ponzi Scheme According to the indictment, he ran the Ponzi scheme from approximately 2020 through...Read More
On April 29, Dutch law enforcement arrested a man believed to be connected to the fraudulent activities associated with the ZKasino internet gambling platform. During the operation, authorities confiscated assets valued at approximately 11.4 million euros ($12.2 million), including cryptocurrency, real estate, and luxury vehicles. Dutch Authorities Seize Millions in Assets According to a Fiscal...Read More
Crypto hackers have claimed another major victim, fooling him into sending $68 million to a wallet he thought was somebody else’s. Blockchain data indicates that a once-wealthy Ethereum user lost all of his Bitcoin holdings after hackers contaminated a recipient’s wallet history. The user now holds just $1.6 million in crypto at his address. The...Read More
Jabara Igbara, commonly known as “Jay Mazini,” who boasted of being a crypto millionaire on Instagram, has been sentenced to seven years in prison by U.S. District Judge Frederic Block. The sentence on wire fraud and money laundering charges also mandates Igbara to forfeit $10 million. Jay Mazini Labelled a “Crypto Con Man” According to...Read More
The X account of famous actor Tom Holland, which has over 7 million followers, was recently hacked. The attackers used his platform to promote a fake cryptocurrency and NFT scheme. Fake ‘Spiderverse’ Partnership with Binance The compromised account was used to announce a partnership with the global crypto exchange Binance, supposedly launching “Spiderverse” tokens. A...Read More
The crypto sleuth ZachXBT has warned about a group of scammers who are attempting to lure more victims by using millions in stolen funds in a new scheme. The investigation found that the same group who stole from projects like Magnate, Kokomo, Lendora, and Solfire is now back with a new project on Blast, Leaper...Read More
The Southern District of New York announced that Irina Dilkinska was sentenced to four years in prison by US District Judge Edgardo Ramos for her involvement in the extensive OneCoin fraud scheme. Dilkinska served as OneCoin’s former legal and compliance officer who was caught and extradited from Bulgaria to the United States in March 2023....Read More
American tech giant Google recently filed a lawsuit against two developers for uploading almost 90 fraudulent crypto investment applications on its online store, Google Play, which they used to defraud unsuspecting victims. Despite the company’s previous attempts to take down fraudulent apps from its Play Store, the alleged scammers found a way to upload more...Read More
Crypto crimes are on the rise across the world, especially with the market-wide boom. Elderly individuals, for one, are one of the most targeted groups, preyed on by fraudsters who convince them through different means to exchange their funds for crypto while promising substantial investment gains. This has prompted authorities to intensify their crackdown. In the...Read More
The TRON network accounted for 45% of all illicit volume in 2023, according to data released by analysts at blockchain forensics firm TRM Labs. TRM Labs released a report titled “The Illicit Crypto Economy” on Wednesday shedding light on the key trends in 2023 related to illicit activities and funds in the crypto space. TRON...Read More
A 46-year-old housewife in Hong Kong has reported losses of 7.1 million Hong Kong dollars ($908,000) after investing in a fraudulent crypto investment platform. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, people familiar with the matter revealed that the woman did not realize she had been scammed until a year after the...Read More
X (formerly known as Twitter) has been a popular hook for scammers for over a decade now. However, the tactics employed in these schemes continuously evolve. What’s concerning is that many victims are still falling for scams because of misleading comments made by fake X accounts, leading them to phishing websites. X Fakes Fuel Phishing...Read More
In February, the crypto industry saw losses totaling approximately $160 million due to exploits, hacks, and scams. The figures represented a slight dip from January despite an increase in prices. According to the latest update by CertiK, exit scams claimed the lion’s share at $58.2 million, followed by exploits at $101 million. Phishing accounted for...Read More
The Blast network’s layer 2 project, RiskOnBlast, has been scrutinized due to suspicions of a potential rug pull scam surfacing. The incident has left investors reeling from significant losses estimated at around 420 Ether (ETH), equivalent to approximately $1.25 million at current market rates. Rug Pull Suspicions The incident began when community members noticed the...Read More
South Korea has witnessed a surge in crypto trading, particularly following a market recovery. Correspondingly, authorities in the country received almost 49% more alerts of potentially suspicious transactions from crypto service providers in 2023 compared to the previous year. A paper from the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) revealed that South Korea logged 16,076 instances of...Read More
Scammers have taken their tactics to the next level and are now using real funds in address poisoning attacks. A recent incident where a victim lost nearly $50k was brought to light through a post on X by Cyvers Alerts, a platform dedicated to raising awareness about online threats. Crypto Users Targeted with Real ETH...Read More
According to Scam Sniffer, scammers stole $55 million worth of cryptocurrency in January alone and set up more than 11,000 phishing websites. Notably, most of these thefts occurred on the Ethereum mainnet, with Arbitrum, BNB, Optimism, and Polygon closely behind. Crypto Phishing Attacks Surged in January In a recent Feb. 9 thread on X, Scam...Read More
Colin Murphy – an associate of Canada’s notorious “Crypto King” Aiden Pleterski – was sentenced to 5 months in prison on Friday for contempt of court in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Ontario Superior Court Justice Hugh O’Connell found Murphy in contempt for refusing to surrender his iPhone and for deleting its data when a search warrant...Read More
A doctored clip of Australian mining magnate and businessman Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest on Facebook represents the newest addition to a series of deepfakes hijacking images of figures in deceptive advertisements, eroding trust in the media. Cybersecurity firm Cybertrace flagged the video Forrest, which appears to be promoting a fake crypto trading platform. Deepfake Deception The...Read More
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has brought charges against three people for defrauding investors of nearly $2 billion. According to the DOJ, the individuals promoted a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment program that promised investors high returns. A $1.89 Billion Crypto Scam In a press release on Jan. 29, 2024, the DOJ said that Sam Lee,...Read More
In the face of a rising tide of scams and exploits, even CertiK, a security firm that specializes in comprehensive security for blockchains, smart contracts, and Web3, is not immune. Scammers are targeting users by fraudulently latching on the company’s brand, which is dedicated to ensuring the security of digital assets and decentralized technologies. In...Read More
Following a previous denial by an Estonian circuit court, the local government has, once again, approved the extradition of two of its citizens suspected of cryptocurrency fraud to the United States. The suspects are accused of running a fake crypto service that defrauded unsuspecting victims of over $500 million. According to local news outlet Postimees,...Read More
Manta Network (MANTA), a blockchain project aiming to expand its reach in the Asian market, has found itself entangled in a controversy surrounding allegations of money laundering following its recent listing on the South Korean exchange Bithumb. The controversy emerged when DeFi enthusiast Definalist took to Twitter, suggesting potential misconduct by Manta Network on the...Read More
Michael Saylor revealed an alarming trend involving the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) generated deepfake videos featuring him. Saylor disclosed that his team is tirelessly working to remove approximately 80 such fake videos daily, most aimed at promoting various Bitcoin scams. Deepfake Videos Promoting Bitcoin Scams ⚠️ Warning ⚠️ There is no risk-free way to...Read More
CertiK’s latest report reveals a noteworthy decline in cryptocurrency security incidents in 2023. Total losses came down to $1.84 billion across 751 events, marking a 51% decrease from 2022. Moreover. each incident averaged $2.45 million in losses, with the top ten contributing $1.11 billion. Interestingly, the blockchain security firm found that the median loss per...Read More
ACE Exchange, one of Taiwan’s largest crypto trading platforms, is reportedly under investigation for alleged fraudulent activities, with local authorities estimating the value of the fraud to be over $32 million. However, the company clarified that its employees were not involved in the alleged fraud case. ACE Exchange Founder Arrested for Fraud Allegations According to...Read More
Prominent blockchain security firm CertiK’s X account (previously Twitter) was hacked on January 5th. The compromised account, with a follower count of 342,900, stole crypto from users’ wallets through carefully disguised phishing links. One of the links posted falsely asserted that a vulnerability had been identified in Uniswap’s router contract. The misleading tweet urged users...Read More
Wallet drainers are a type of scam that generally operates by cloning a legitimate website, fooling the target into providing their crypto wallet credentials, and then executing a smart contract that sends the users’ funds to bad actors. 🚨1/ Alert: A ‘Wallet Drainer’ has been linked to phishing campaigns on Google search and X ads,...Read More
According to a Financial Times report, Meta, the American social media conglomerate, has publicly apologized to Qatari billionaire Wissam Al Mana, committing to enhanced protective measures on its platform following a prolonged legal battle. The apology comes after Al Mana’s image was wrongfully used in cryptocurrency scam advertisements on Facebook. Wissam Al Mana Wins Legal...Read More
