Tag Archives: crypto scams

Aiden Pleterski – a 23-year-old Canadian trader and self-described “Crypto King” – is being sued after allegedly failing to return at least $35 million to his investors.  Authorities have already seized $2 million in assets from the Ontarian, including two McLarens, two BMWs, and a Lamborghini. Crypto Trader, or Fraudster? Pleterski ran a business called AP Private Equity Limited, through which he promised to generate high returns for investors through well-timed crypto and...

The Securities and Exchange Commission launched a lawsuit again two advisory companies and their owner for running a Ponzi-like cryptocurrency scheme. The firms operated for over four years and manage to raise nearly $4.4 million. The lawsuit is against Creative Advancement LLC and Edelman Blockchain Advisors LLC as well as their owner – Gabriel Edelman. The allegations claim that Edelman, through his companies, “fraudulently offered and sold securities, using false,...

The Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States created a unit consisting of over 150 federal prosecutors whose goal will be to combat cryptocurrency-related criminal activities. In addition, the government plans to introduce a set of regulatory frameworks that should aid the development of the local digital asset sector. Earlier this year, the DOJ established another division, called “National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team” and appointed cybersecurity prosecutor – Eun...

Joshua David Nicholas – a resident of Florida – pleaded guilty that he and other members of the cryptocurrency platform EmpiresX skimmed investors with $100 million worth of digital assets. He now faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in Federal prison. Last month, the US authorities brought to justice another criminal crew from the Florida region. The Miami citizens – Esteban Cabrera Da Corte, Luis Hernandez Gonzalez, and Asdrubal Ramirez Meza – might spend up to 30...

On September 03, the official YouTube channel of the South Korean government was compromised by a group of hackers who used it to promote a cryptocurrency scam with the image of Elon Musk, the electric car tycoon and Dogecoin enthusiast. According to local media outlet Yonhap News, the hackers changed the name of the government channel to “SpaceX Invest” to pretend it was related to the U.S. aerospace manufacturing and space transportation services company owned by Musk....

The Albanian authorities arrested Faruk Fatih Ozer – the CEO of the Turkish cryptocurrency exchange Thodex – in the city of Elbasan. Last year, the platform ceased trading and withdrawals, while the 28-year-old executive was rumored to have left Turkey with $2 billion in users’ funds. Despite not managing to detect Ozer’s whereabouts, Turkish law enforcement agents jailed six other individuals connected to the fraud. Two of those were the brother and the sister of the CEO....

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged three residents of Miami – Esteban Cabrera Da Corte, Luis Hernandez Gonzalez, and Asdrubal Ramirez Meza – with defrauding banks and a cryptocurrency platform for over $4 million. The men used fake identification to buy digital assets, while later, they lied to financial institutions that the transactions were not authorized so they could net more money. For their crime, the trio faces up to 30 years in Federal prison. Halting the...

SudoRare – a decentralized non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace – is reportedly the latest crypto project that had rug-pulled its customers. The project, established earlier today, shut down its operations six hours after launch after it was rug-pulled for 519 ETH (around $850,000 going by current prices). The blockchain security company – PeckShield – indicated that the wrongdoers behind the protocol have already sent the drained funds to three different wallets, each...

According to a study conducted by Chainalysis, wrongdoers have stolen approximately $1.4 billion worth of digital assets between January 2022 and now. Targeting cryptocurrency bridges seems to have been a preferred method. Some examples of such attacks in 2022 include the exploit of the Horizon bridge, the $190 million breach on Nomad Bridge, and one of the largest attacks in crypto’s history: the $615 million Ronin attack. Cybercriminal’s Favorite Target: Crypto Bridges It...

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has sentenced a 25-year-old Rhode Island cryptocurrency trader, popularly known as Coin Signals, to 42 months in prison for defrauding over 170 people of more than $5 million. Coin Signals Trader Convicted According to an official press release, the convict, Jeremy Spence, had solicited funds from investors via several crypto investment pools, which he ran from November 2017 to April 2019. He created and managed several crypto...