Tagged: fraud

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

March 28, 2019 @ 1:38 am By Cali Haan  |  

Patrick McDonnell, 46, also known as “Jason Flack,” has been charged with 9 counts of wire fraud in the State of New York. McDonnell operated CabbageTech Crop – a company that was doing business as Coin Drop Markets. A release from the US Attorney’s Office… Read More

March 27, 2019 @ 6:23 am By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has issued a release stating it has found that Envion AG “unlawfully received public deposits on a commercial basis from at least 37,000 investors.” Envion is currently in the process of being liquidated by the Zug bankruptcy authority…. Read More

March 27, 2019 @ 5:46 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Direct Lending Investments (DLI), LLC with “a multi-year fraud.” According to the SEC, the ongoing fraud resulted in approximately $11 million in “over-charges of management and performance fees to its private funds, as well as the inflation… Read More

March 22, 2019 @ 4:49 am By Cali Haan  |  

Jared Rice Sr, creator of “AriseBank” and the associated cryptocurrency/token “AriseCoin,” has pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in Texas, Dallas News reports. The plea reportedly involved Rice admitting that he lied to investors when he raised money for his project. These lies… Read More

March 12, 2019 @ 7:55 am By Cali Haan  |  

A hacker has attempted to sell hacked elite college admissions files to teenaged hopefuls waiting to find out if they have made it into their colleges of choice, Consumer Affairs reports. The hacker originally offered to sell files for 1 Bitcoin ($3800 USD)  in a… Read More

March 11, 2019 @ 6:02 pm By JD Alois  |  

On Friday, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney, part of the Department of Justice, issued a statement regarding ongoing Ponzi scam OneCoin stating that alleged perpetrator Konstantin Ignatov had been arrested at the Los Angeles airport. Ignatov was hit with charges of wire fraud conspiracy regarding the… Read More

March 9, 2019 @ 9:52 am By Cali Haan  |  

The South Korean Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has created a task force dedicated to responding to a reported 800% increase in cryptocurrency crime complaints, South Korean news agency Naver reports. The task force, which will reportedly be, “packed…with professional investigators, prosecutors, and investigators as team heads,” was… Read More

March 6, 2019 @ 1:06 pm By Cali Haan  |  

In its latest “Strategic Alliance Bulletin,” auditing firm PwC (formerly-known-as PricewaterhouseCoopers) has countered the sanguine narratives in crypto by stating unequivocally: “Cryptocurrency has increasingly been associated with serving criminal and nefarious purposes, rather than supporting the decentralisation of ‘traditional’ currency.” That said, the company does… Read More

March 2, 2019 @ 7:44 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Games.eos, a “Top 21” staker (“block producer” or “most efficient miner”) of the newer cryptocurrency network EOS, failed to update their blacklist of hacked EOS accounts recently, and left the door open for a hacker to drain $7.7 million USD in EOS tokens from a… Read More

February 28, 2019 @ 10:31 am By Cali Haan  |  

The US District Court of Massachusetts has indicted Randall Crater, the man they allege led a “My Big Coin” cryptocurrency fraud that bilked primarily New York investors out of $6 million USD. Crater is charged with four counts of wire fraud and three counts of unlawful… Read More

February 28, 2019 @ 1:44 am By Cali Haan  |  

A man who promised astronomical returns to investors in “KBC Coin” (a cryptocurrency named after India’s popular Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) TV game show) has been arrested by police in Mumbai, The Hindu and Hard Fork report. Pritam Patil was reportedly apprehended after Nanasaheb Patil, an agricultural… Read More

February 27, 2019 @ 11:39 am By JD Alois  |  

Movie director Daniel Adams and music producer Michael Flanders, and companies under their control have been charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The allegations of fraud are associated with the production of the film: An L.A. Minute. Adams has been involved… Read More

February 24, 2019 @ 10:20 am By Cali Haan  |  

Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen accused of laundering billions while allegedly running the BTC-e Bitcoin exchange in London, has ended his 80-day hunger strike, Urdu Point reports. Vinnik was detained in the summer of 2017 after being arrested while vacationing in Greece with his family…. Read More

February 22, 2019 @ 12:09 pm By Cali Haan  |  

UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, was fined 4.5 billion Euros ($5.1 billion USD) Wednesday for “aggravated money-laundering of the proceeds of tax fraud” as well as “illegal bank soliciting” for its alleged role in helping wealthy French citizens avoid taxes, Associated Press reports. Five former UBS… Read More

February 20, 2019 @ 3:04 am By Cali Haan  |  

Police in India have arrested four and are seeking a fifth suspect whom they believe used a cryptocurrency scam to steal 1 billion rupees (nearly $14 million) from investors in Mumbai, Surat, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh, Times of India reports. The men, Sanjay Sontakke, 44; Rajnikant Kumavat, 46; Alpesh… Read More

February 20, 2019 @ 2:55 am By Cali Haan  |  

30 investors in Thailand who say they were defrauded of 42 million baht ($1.34 million USD) by the owner of a Bitcoin mining scheme formally complained Monday to the Thai Technology Crime Suppression Division, The Bangkok Post reports. Police say a total of 140 investors have now… Read More

February 19, 2019 @ 6:43 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Netherlands-based payments news outlet The Paypers has published an interview with an unnamed investigator from the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), America’s domestic intelligence and security agency, in which the agent suggested a direct correlation between the number of ERC-20 tokens in circulation and the number of… Read More

February 18, 2019 @ 7:01 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has revealed that over 380 peer to peer lending platforms are currently under investigation. A release by Xinhua on Sunday said that about USD $1.5 billion in P2P lending assets were involved. Apparently, the Chinese police have seized or frozen cash,… Read More