Tag Archives: crypto scams

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 Ching-kit, alerting global law enforcement that he is wanted for one count of fraud and two counts of theft in Hong...

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 earnings in 2023, totaling over $500 million. Russian-Speaking Threat Actors Dominate In its latest report,...

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 place last week. Cryptocurrency Fraud Bust A source told the South China Morning Post that the 44-year-old...

Multiple Filipino artists had their YouTube channels hacked, with the hackers streaming a deepfake video of XRP co-founder Brad Garlinghouse predicting XRP’s price to rise to $4. Obviously, the video was doctored to get unsuspecting users to follow instructions and have their funds drained. One of the biggest accounts from the series of hacks belonged to Ben&Ben, a pop band comprising nine members, boasting 3.02 million followers. A band member took to Ben&Ben’s official Facebook...

In a surprising turn of events, a scammer who stole $24.2 million from a victim has returned $9.3 million to them. The funds were sent via two transactions using the DAI stablecoin—the first transaction occurred on July 8 and was worth $5.23 million, and the second $4.04 million on July 13. They stole these funds on September 6, 2023, by orchestrating a phishing scam, siphoning away 9,579 Lido Staked Ether (stETH) and 4,850 Rocket Pool (rETH) tokens. Those tokens are worth about $47 million...

ImmuneFi’s recent report stated that the Binance-launched BNB Chain has witnessed over $1.6 billion in the previous four years since its launch in 2020. 23% of those losses, or $368 million, occurred due to rug pulls, putting BNB Chain ahead of all other blockchains in terms of rug pulls. For instance, Ethereum has reported $3.6 billion in losses since its inception, while only 4.4%, or $158 million, was attributed to rug pulls. Rug pulls occur when shady developers launch tokens and sell...

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 Leaks Some users were also found to have shared their private keys or mnemonic phrases with trusted friends via...

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 documents and trial evidence revealed that Kane, the co-founder and CEO of Hydrogen Technology, and Hampton,...

Ruja Ignota, a Bulgarian national better known as CryptoQueen and founder of the $4 billion OneCoin scam, is still on the run. While there are doubts about whether she is still alive or not, the FBI has raised the stakes to $5 million for anyone providing information about her location that can lead to her arrest. A US District Court charged her in absentia on 12 October 2017 for masterminding the OneCoin Ponzi scheme. “On October 12, 2017, Ignatova was charged in the United States District...

Metallica’s X account was hacked on Wednesday, and the hackers promoted a token called $METAL to its 6.1 million followers. In a series of posts, the hackers claimed various things about the token, like it being a partnership with Ticketmaster, the American ticketing company, and MoonPay, a well-known fintech firm. Other claims included token holders receiving discounted tickets to Metallica’s shows and merchandise—lucky airdrop winners would apparently receive free tickets and merchandise....