Tag Archives: crypto scams

The US Justice Department announced that two men have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering “in connection with a million-dollar scheme to defraud purchasers of NFTs advertised as Frosties.” The suspects, Ethan Nguyen and Andre Llacuna, were accused of lying about benefits promised to NFTs buyers and withdrawing the cryptocurrency proceeds out of the Frosties account through multiple transactions. Their real-life identities were disclosed...

The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Meta – previously known as Facebook – over a series of crypto scam advertisements that used the likenesses or images of famous individuals to allegedly promote certain products and suck traders in. Australia Files Suit Against Facebook One of the ads featured Australian public figures like Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest and businessman Dick Smith. Both have tried filing separate cases or pressing charges...

According to a new report issued by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), scams involving crypto are now the second most prominent and risky. The BBB Publishes Crypto Scam Report In the year 2020, crypto scams were still relatively thin. While they occurred on a regular basis, they only placed seventh on the BBB list. However, in 2020, crypto scams moved into second place, suggesting that they now occur much more often than anyone could have anticipated. While crypto scams...

US Attorney Dena J. King announced that law enforcement seized $547,000 worth of bitcoin from a criminal who conned an elderly person last year. The officials will return all funds to the victim. Cracking Down a Crypto Scam In its latest efforts to fight fraudulent activities involving cryptocurrencies, American officials confiscated more than $500,000 in bitcoin from a criminal. The latter drained the funds from an elderly Ashville resident last year, as the sum represented...

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau and the Yangpu Public Security Bureau conducted a joint investigation on pyramid schemes using cryptocurrencies. Shortly after, the authorities busted an online platform, which drained nearly $16 million in digital assets from its victims over the years. Shanghai’s First Cracked Crypto Pyramid Scheme According to a local report, the organization started its illegal activities in June 2020, and its leader was a criminal suspect named Mou....

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted almost every single aspect of life. Since the physical contact between humans had to be reduced to a minimum, love dates and romantic activities became increasingly popular on dating applications. And while some people found their soulmates online, others turned into victims of cryptocurrency scammers who drained a significant chunk of their savings. One such example is the 33-year-old Tho Vu, who fell in love with a mysterious lover named Ze...

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 scheme in the world of cryptocurrencies. The Drama Isn’t Over In an official press release, the Justice Department said that Satish...

The blockchain data company – Chainalysis – claimed that criminal whales represent 3.7% of all cryptocurrency whales. Those bad actors collectively own over $25 billion worth of digital assets. Almost 4% of Crypto Whales Are Criminals Cryptocurrencies have many merits, and numerous experts maintain that they represent a financial revolution. However, bitcoin and the altcoins have their critics, too. These claim that drug traffickers, terrorists, and money-launderers employ...

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 the official press release, Animoca Brands clarified that the namesake token has no connection to the company. It urged...

Nearly $10 billion were stolen in DeFi scams and thefts only in 2021, representing an 81% rise compared to 2020, and rugpulls accounted for over 35% of all crypto scam revenue. This is according to a recent report by Elliptic. And while there are many types of scams that take place regularly within the cryptocurrency community, rugpulls are arguably the most infamous. So, What is a Rugpull in Crypto? A rugpull — from the phrase to pull the rug from underneath someone —...