Tag Archives: crypto scams

The Valley Stream, New York resident – Eddy Alexandre – received a nine-year prison sentence for engaging in commodities fraud. He was found guilty of swindling $248 million from over 25,000 investors through his cryptocurrency trading platform called EminiFX. The investigation determined that Alexandre used some of the funds to purchase luxurious items for himself, such as expensive cars. The ‘Brazen’ Fraud The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Alexandre’s punishment...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States plans to reinforce its team responsible for investigating cryptocurrency-related crimes with more prosecutors. The unit will also have a new leader, with Claudia Quiroz replacing Eun Young Choi at the helm. The team has played a major role in many of the DOJ’s crypto cases, such as bringing charges against Bitzlato and the investigation into Binance. Bringing NCET to ‘the Next Level’ The DOJ disclosed that it will more than...

Canadian law enforcement agents have reportedly arrested the 39-year-old Akil Heywood over allegations that he kidnapped, threatened, and beat Aiden Pleterski in December 2022. The latter supposedly orchestrated a crypto scam, draining over $40 million from investors. Records show that Heywood invested $740,000 with Pleterski, making him one of the countless victims. The alleged fraudster apologized in a recent video, vowing to “live on the bare minimum” to repay the conned...

Popular on-chain sleuth ZachXBT has unmasked another crypto scammer responsible for stealing millions of dollars in digital assets using sophisticated phishing attacks. The thief’s targets included the discord services for DeFi projects such as Orbiter Finance and Pika Protocol. Impersonation and Confiscation In a Twitter thread published on Monday, ZachXBT explained that the attacker, Soup (aka Dan) enacted his scam by impersonating Luke Hamlton – an employee for the crypto...

The American authorities have reportedly arrested Brandon Austin and his father, Eugene “Hugh” Austin, over accusations that they run a massive crypto fraud, embezzling over $10 million from investors. Brandon, who has already pleaded guilty, will hear his sentence on September 6. Conning Investors to Fund a Lavish Lifestyle According to recent coverage, federal agents detained the 27-year-old Brandon Austin in April and his dad on July 5. US Attorney Damian Williams said the...

Blockchain detective ZachXBT has implicated a YouTuber with over 120,000 subscribers in over $1.5 million worth of crypto scams over the past two years. Some of those scams are connected to the infamous Monkey Drainer, an anonymous and boastful phishing scammer known for stealing people’s NFTs. Linking “Blue” to Monkey Drainer Before entering the world of crypto scams in July 2021, the scammer – known as either “BlueXBT” or “JB Adventures” (Jack) – had grown his YouTube...

Simon Hoadley – a 66-year-old retired financial advisor who lives in East Sussex, the UK – has reportedly become a victim of a “horrendous” cryptocurrency scam that drained nearly $100,000 from him. Fortunately, legal experts managed to recover nearly all the lost funds. Scammers Have No Mercy As reported by Mirror, Hoadley was looking to earn some extra money during the COVID-19 pandemic as his dad was dying from cancer, whereas his wife was living in a care home. At that...

Two teenage boys from Hamilton, Ontario, have been busted for allegedly stealing over $4 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) from an American man through what authorities described as a “spear phishing attack.” According to local reports, Hamilton police started working with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force to investigate the boys in June 2023. A Spear Phishing Attack Const. Krista-Lee...

Jarryd Hayne – a former NRL superstar – has supposedly parted with $780,000 after falling prey in a Bitcoin scam. The athlete, who was slammed with a prison sentence for allegedly raping a woman, was tricked by a fellow inmate. The scammer is currently in jail after being accused of swindling $4.6 million from family and friends in a Ponzi scheme. Conned Even Behind Bars As reported by Daily Mail, the person in charge of the Bitcoin fraud was Ishan Seenar Sappideen, who met...

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged William Koo Ichioka for defrauding investors of tens of millions of dollars by claiming to be a digital asset and foreign exchange (forex) trader. According to an official statement, the CFTC filed a complaint against Ichioka in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing him of mishandling over $21 million of investor assets and using new customer funds to create the...