Tagged: fraud

June 19, 2020 @ 7:48 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed an emergency action to halt Pennsylvania-based brothers Sean Hvizdzak and Shane Hvizdzak and a digital asset fund. The Hvizdzaks operated several companies: Hvizdzak Capital Management LLC; High Street Capital LLC; High Street Capital Partners, LLC . Each… Read More

June 19, 2020 @ 8:17 am By JD Alois  |  

Markus Braun has resigned his position as CEO of Wirecard AG  (WDI.DE), effective immediately.  The news came the day after the company posted that it could not account for €1.9 billion and the auditor, EY, claimed there had been attempts to deceive its work. Yesterday,… Read More

June 18, 2020 @ 6:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

One Big Crypto Ponzi Scheme Last week the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) published a report documenting the collapse of QuadrigaCX, a crypto-exchange operated Gerald Cotten who reportedly died taking the crypto exchange to the grave. The review by the OSC staff disclosed that the failure… Read More

June 18, 2020 @ 8:30 am By JD Alois  |  

Wirecard AG   (WDI.DE), a Germany based payments and cards platform, has delayed publication of its financial statements due to “indications of presentation of spurious balance confirmations.” The obfuscated statement relates to an apparent audit by EY that uncovered a €1.9 billion discrepancy. EY reports an… Read More

June 16, 2020 @ 11:21 am By JD Alois  |  

A new report claims that established banks Swedbank and SEB enabled “suspected fraud networks” to operate in the Baltics and mentions bankrupt peer to peer lending platform Envestio by name. Envestio, and similar platform Kuetzal, recently filed for bankruptcy in Estonia. Earlier this year, both… Read More

June 12, 2020 @ 7:33 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Estonia, one of the world’s most developed nations with an advanced, high-income economy that’s among the fastest-growing in the EU, is reportedly caught up in one of Europe’s largest-ever dirty-money scandals. Estonia has been quite active when it comes to encouraging the adoption of digital… Read More

June 10, 2020 @ 8:22 pm By JD Alois  |  

Peer to peer lenders, Envestio and Kuetzal, have both filed for bankruptcy according to publicly available information. Last January, Crowdfund Insider reported that Envestio and Keutzal were both under duress with some observers calling the online lenders scams. Soon both peer to peer lenders had… Read More

June 5, 2020 @ 4:36 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has obtained an asset freeze and other emergency relief against Daniel F. Putnam, of Utah, Jean Paul Ramirez Rico, of Colombia, and Angel A. Rodriguez, of Utah, who allegedly scammed over $12 million from over 2000 investors in a… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 12:49 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

FIS (NYSE: FIS), a financial services technology firm, announced on Tuesday the launch of Worldpay’s Fraud Freedom, a new chargeback indemnification service designed for cryptocurrency brokers and exchanges.  According to FIS, Fraud Freedom service helps crypto brokers and exchanges optimize payment conversion, and authorization rates… Read More

June 2, 2020 @ 12:37 pm By JD Alois  |  

The cryptocurrency sector of finance has long been a hotbed for fraud, scams, hacks, and crimes. The relative anonymity (or perceived anonymity) along with the ability to seamlessly transfer value in seconds has been catnip for crooks. Industry participants have struggled in the ongoing cat… Read More

May 29, 2020 @ 5:46 pm By JD Alois  |  

  A couple of months ago Grupeer, a peer to peer lender ostensibly based in Latvia, shut-down all lending and allegedly halted all investor redemptions. In multiple statements, Grupeer management claimed the COVID-19 pandemic had harmed its ability to operate. At the end of March,… Read More

May 25, 2020 @ 12:26 pm By JD Alois  |  

SIM Swaps, the nefarious act when criminals surreptitiously take over your mobile phone with a different SIM card, hit crypto lending platform BlockFi earlier this month. BlockFi quickly posted an “incident report” outlining the scam: “From approximately 07:17 UTC to 08:43 UTC on May 14,… Read More

May 8, 2020 @ 6:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

  Michael Terpin has sued 18-year old Ellis Pinsky, a high school senior living in the posh New York City suburb of Irvington in Westchester County. Terpin alleges that Pinsky was the perpetrator of a “sophisticated cybercrime spree” that saw over $100 million stolen in cryptocurrency… Read More

May 7, 2020 @ 2:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed charges against Daniel Fingerhut, Tal Valariola and Itay Barak and companies they controlled pertaining to digital asset and binary options fraud allegations. The scam allegedly generated over $20 million in commissions for the perpetrators. Fingerhut is said… Read More

May 5, 2020 @ 8:28 am By JD Alois  |  

While more traditional financial services firms are regularly spoofed two emerging Hong Kong virtual banks have recently been targeted by scammers. Both ZA Bank and Airstar Bank have seen bogus sites posted online in an attempt to fleece unsuspecting consumers. This past weekend, Airstar posted… Read More

April 28, 2020 @ 8:36 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Germany-based global provider of digital payments and commerce solutions Wirecard announced on Tuesday it has received the report on the special investigation by the auditing company KPMG that concluded there is no incriminating evidence founded for the publicly raised accusations of balance sheet manipulation. Wirecard reported… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 10:04 pm By JD Alois  |  

Ripple has been pushed to the edge, according to a blog post today. The crypto-firm is suing YouTube – part of Google. In a document filed in the US District Court, Northern District of California, Ripple Labs, and Bradley Garlinghouse, slammed YouTube for: “irreparable harm… Read More

April 21, 2020 @ 3:39 pm By JD Alois  |  

  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed fraud charges against Steven L. Brickner of South Florida. Brickner allegedly committed fraud in relation to $5.5 million raised to invest in Cannabis-related companies including one called “High Country” in Colorado. According to the SEC, Brickner… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 2:06 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed fraud charges against Alan Friedland and his companies, Fintech Investment Group, Inc. and Compcoin LLC. The CFTC claims that Friedland and his Florida based firms fraudulently solicited over $1.6 million in connection with a leveraged or margined… Read More

April 15, 2020 @ 7:32 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is out with an ominous note predicting a rise in cryptocurrency-related scams fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The FBI expects that the bad guys will take advantage of the FUD to steal your money and then launder it through the… Read More