Tagged: fraud

May 21, 2019 @ 9:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has receved another emergency court order halting an alleged initial coin offering (ICO) fraud. According to the SEC, a $30 million Ponzi scheme, led by South Florida-based Argyle Coin, and its principal Jose Angel Aman, targeted over 300 US… Read More

May 12, 2019 @ 2:17 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Six members of a transnational hacking group known as “The Community” have been indicted in the Eastern District of Michigan and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in relation to SWIM-swap hacks they allegedly conducted to steal cryptocurrencies by… Read More

May 8, 2019 @ 10:44 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Officers of the Spanish Civil Guard in Spain assisted by Europol have arrested eight people and charged eight more for allegedly, “…providing large-scale crypto money laundering services to other criminal organizations.” Europol says the bust of this “cryptocurrency laundering as a service business” comes follows operation… Read More

May 7, 2019 @ 7:51 am By Cali Haan  |  

iFinex, parent company of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and creator of Tether, the world’s most popular “stablecoin” cryptocurrency, has asked a court in New York to “vacate” (render void) ex parte orders issued by the Attorney General of New York compelling iFinex to produce comprehensive… Read More

May 4, 2019 @ 3:54 pm By JD Alois  |  

Cryptosecurity firm Ciphertrace has published their Q1 report tallying scams, frauds, and other nefarious acts in the crypto sector and the first three months of 2019 were productive ones for the bad guys. According to Ciphertrace, during the first three months of 2019, $1.2 billion… Read More

May 2, 2019 @ 7:41 am By Cali Haan  |  

A lawyer for iFinex, the company behind the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and”stablecoin” Tether (USDT), has admitted in an affidavit that the company only has enough cash on hand to cover 74% of the tethers it has issued into cryptocurrency trading markets. In the affidavit, “Stuart… Read More

May 1, 2019 @ 6:54 pm By Cali Haan  |  

“Processed hundreds of millions of dollars of unregulated transactions on behalf of numerous cryptocurrency exchanges.” The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested American citizen Reginald Fowler, 60. The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York has charged him with bank fraud, conspiracy… Read More

April 30, 2019 @ 3:52 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

Global payment technology provider Worldpay, Inc. (NYSE: WP; LSE: WPY) announced on Tuesday the launch of FraudSight, which is a new solution designed to prevent fraud and optimize approval rates potentially boosting revenue across all channels. According to Worldpay, FraudSight makes transaction validity decisions for merchants of… Read More

April 28, 2019 @ 9:07 am By Cali Haan  |  

Police in Berkeley, California, are warning the public that a culprit impersonating a police officer has attempted to extort Bitcoins from a resident of that region. According to a City of Berkeley press release issued April 24th regarding the incident: “Just this past Thursday, a… Read More

April 27, 2019 @ 9:08 am By Cali Haan  |  

Two men in Nigeria have been charged in Oregon with 13 counts relating to an online scheme they allegedly executed to defraud victims out of more than 50 Bitcoins. Oregon prosecutors allege the scheme claimed three victims in the US. According to a release from… Read More

April 26, 2019 @ 10:10 am By Cali Haan  |  

The PR team at cryptocurrency company Tether has vigorously denied allegations included in a New York court order claiming the company “lost” $850 million USD in customer funds to a Panamanian entity called Crypto Capital then “co-mingled” customer and company funds to cover the loss…. Read More

April 25, 2019 @ 9:13 pm By JD Alois  |  

New York Attorney General Letitia James has obtained a court order against crypto exchange Bitfinex ( iFinex Inc.) and stablecoin Tether alleging violations of New York law in connection with “ongoing activities that may have defrauded New York investors that trade in virtual or cryptocurrency…. Read More

April 23, 2019 @ 9:17 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An Israeli named Afik Wore has been indicted for allegedly stealing 6.2 million shekels ($1.7 million USD) worth of cryptocurrency from a friend who taught him how to trade it, News 1 reports. According to the outlet, Eliat resident Alexei Yaromenko, a cryptocurrency trader since 2013,… Read More

April 19, 2019 @ 11:13 am By JD Alois  |  

Leading marketplace lending platform Prosper has settled fraud charges for misstating returns, according to a release from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Without admitting or denying the allegations, Prosper has consented to an SEC order finding it violated an anti-fraud provision of the Securities… Read More

April 13, 2019 @ 10:15 am By Cali Haan  |  

Two of three Romanian cybercriminals who targeted American citizens and businesses from abroad in elaborate cybercrime schemes initiated in 2007 have been convicted in Ohio. Bogdan Nicolescu, 36, and Radu Miclaus, 37, will be sentenced August 14th after being found guilty of 21 counts of… Read More

April 11, 2019 @ 3:14 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Two unnamed individuals were charged with fraud April 10th for their involvement with OneCoin, a multibillion-dollar global cryptocurrency pyramid scheme of  started by a brother and sister team in Bulgaria. Business Times reports that an investigation by the Singapore Commercial Affairs Department and the Singapore Police… Read More

April 7, 2019 @ 8:13 pm By Cali Haan  |  

An on-the-ground investigation by London news outlet Financial Times has shown that several payment referral partnerships maintained by German payments giant Wirecard in the Philippines are either insubstantial or dubious. On Friday, it was revealed that a top accounting executive with the firm had departed…. Read More

April 5, 2019 @ 7:19 am By Cali Haan  |  

Amit Bhardwaj, accused of masterminding an elaborate Bitcoin-based $300 million Ponzi scam that spanned 90 countries, has been granted interim bail in India, Inc42 reports. Bhardwaj’s lawyer, Deepak Prakash told the outlet, “… Amit Bhardwaj has been granted interim bail based on…health ground(s).” The accused reportedly… Read More

April 2, 2019 @ 3:08 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the founder and former chief executive mobile payment Fintech Jumio with defrauding investors. The former CEO of Jumio, Daniel Mattes, has agreed to pay more than $17 million to settle the charges. Mattes is also a “business… Read More

March 28, 2019 @ 1:01 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A hacker has been bragging on the Dark Net that he or she siphoned 200 bitcoins ($760 000 USD) from Dark Net websites by using an impersonation scam known as “typo-squatting,” cybersecurity firm Digital Shadows reports. On the Dark Net, “Typo-squatting” involves subtle alphanumeric bait-and-switch… Read More