Tag: Scam

Crypto Mining Scam in Vietnam Defrauds Over 200 Victims

Over 200 scammed in Vietnam via a fake crypto mining site, BitMiner; victims lost $157K. Cops nabbed 4 fraudsters.




Over 200 people in southern Vietnam got scammed big time by a shady crypto mining site called BitMiner. The fake platform, with a Singapore domain, promised easy cash through Bitcoin mining but ended up swiping VND 4 billion (around $157K) from its victims.

The brains behind this sketchy operation? A group of four, led by Tran Minh Quang, 41. They got busted in Dong Nai Province, near Ho Chi Minh City, for running what police say was a full-on fraud setup. These guys faked being a Dubai-based legit company, using flashy ads to reel people in.

Here’s the full pic: they sold fake crypto mining packages like “Red Diamond” and “Green Diamond” (yeah, sounds fancy) with promises of insane profits. They even recruited collaborators who helped boost their scam, handing out materials and fake trade accounts to make the whole thing look legit.

But that house of cards came tumbling down when the authorities caught on to their game. Now they are left to face the music alone and victims are left to wonder if they will ever see their money again.

Well, we can conclude, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is—especially in the wild world of crypto.

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Crypto Scam Exposes Three Victims from Ottawa

Three Ottawa locals got scammed in a global crypto fraud. OPP froze $24M, traced wallets, but arrests are tricky abroad.

Three Ottawa folks just got hit by a massive global crypto scam, according to the Ottawa Police Service (OPS). The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) stepped up with Project Atlas to fight crypto fraud, freezing $24M in fake losses and stopping scammers from stealing over $70M. But here’s the catch—no arrests yet because the culprits are abroad, outside Canadian jurisdiction.

Detective Constable John Armit explained how the OPP used blockchain tech to trace stolen crypto to shady wallets. But tracking down these scammers is tough since crypto is mostly anonymous. The cops followed the victims’ transactions on the public blockchain and flagged dodgy wallets to exchanges worldwide, saving future victims from falling for the same trap.

Turns out, scammers tricked people with fake platforms showing fake profits, luring them to invest more. When they tried withdrawing funds, they were slapped with a bogus “crypto tax.” One victim lost six figures, another $10K, but thankfully, one person got an early heads-up and dodged a huge loss.

Mike Bickerton from the OPP Cyber-Enabled Fraud Team warned that scammers are using crypto for global money laundering. His advice? Learn the red flags before diving into crypto investments. Stay sharp, folks—don’t get played!

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Scam Token Linked to Squid Game Tanks 99% on Base

A fake Squid Game token on Base crashed 99%, scamming investors with a pump-and-dump tied to show hype.

A new scam token tied to the hit show Squid Game just popped up on the Base blockchain—and it’s already a disaster. In under 9 hours, the token dropped a massive 99%, wiping out all its value. The whole thing was a pump-and-dump scam where the creator held most of the token supply, hyping it up to pump the price and then selling off at the top, leaving investors in the dust.

The token, called SQUID, had no actual connection to the show, even though scammers used the buzz from Squid Game Season 2 to make it look legit. The hype came at the perfect time, with the show’s latest episode featuring a character running a failed crypto project, adding fuel to the fire. Investors rushed in, but once the token hit its peak, it all came crashing down.

As of this writing, the token’s price is only $0.0111255, or almost nothing. The Squid Game storyline may have been used as a backdrop to give this scam the appearance of legitimacy, but it was something more sinister and merely a means for scammers to profit quickly while causing others to suffer significant losses.

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CBI Uncovers Crypto Scam Schemes Targeting Seniors in the US and Canada

A cryptocurrency fraud involving seniors got three individuals behind bars in Delhi-NCR. They were able to steal more than $30 million worth of Bitcoin by posing as tech support and law enforcement. Their job was to defraud individuals of their money by setting up phony call centers. Additionally, a Dubai-based partner assisted in turning the cryptocurrency into cash.

Three scammers got busted in Delhi-NCR for running a massive crypto scam. They targeted older people in the US and Canada. So basically, they set up fake call centers and pretended to be cops, tech support, and even companies like Amazon and Microsoft, convincing victims to send over $30 million in Bitcoin.

The crew, led by Tushar Kharbanda, Gaurav Malik, and Ankit Jain, pressured seniors into transferring big amounts of money through Bitcoin ATMs. Jain was in charge of managing the stolen crypto and converting it into cash through a partner in Dubai.

They hired over 150 tele-callers to act as fake law enforcement officers, and even went as far as pretending to be the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Victims, scared they were involved in illegal activities, transferred huge sums in Bitcoin. In one case, they sent over 93K Canadian Dollars.

The CBI took action after getting a tip from RCMP. Their base got raided and the scammers’ locations and finding devices with scripts for other fraud schemes were collected. This bust shows how dangerous crypto scams are becoming, especially for vulnerable older people.

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ED Seizes ₹12.5 Crore in HPZ Crypto Token Scam Crackdown in India

India’s ED seized ₹12.5 crore in the HPZ Token crypto scam, where investors were duped with fake promises of high returns through a shady app. The scam, now totaling ₹615.90 crore, lured people with small gains before trapping them for bigger investments. Raids hit four cities under the PMLA crackdown.

India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) just pulled off a major move in the HPZ Token crypto scam, seizing ₹12.5 crore in assets after raiding four cities—Delhi, Gurugram, Thane, and Navi Mumbai. This brings the total amount recovered in this scam to a whopping ₹615.90 crore.

So, what’s the deal with this HPZ Token? Well, it’s a classic case of “too good to be true.” It was easily one of those shady group launching a crypto app and luring hundreds of investors with promises of insane returns—like ₹4,000 a day on a ₹57,000 investment for three months. Initially they even paid out small amounts to build trust, but it was all a setup to trap people into pouring in more money.

The ED stepped in after an FIR was filed in Nagaland, and the Dimapur sub-zonal office took charge of the investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). On December 5, the agency raided 11 locations, freezing bank accounts, fixed deposits, and mutual funds linked to the accused group.

This is one of the biggest crackdowns in India’s fight against crypto fraud. The ED is on a mission to track down every penny of the stolen money and make sure the scammers face justice.

The takeaway? Always double-check any investment that promises sky-high returns—it’s probably a trap. The crypto world is exciting, but scams like this are a reminder to stay alert and informed.

Also Read: Pi Network Urges Users to Take Charge as KYC Validators

South Korea Busts $230M Crypto Scam: 215 Arrested, 15,000 Victims

South Korea busted a huge $230M crypto scam, with over 15,000 victims suffered by their scam, most of the them were old people. This scheme was apparently run by a Youtuber with over 620K subs. Cops arrested him including 215 helpers, and tracked over 1400 accounts and seized $1.9M in Bitcoin. The mastermind for this was caught in Australia and the hunt for fund is still on.

South Koreans have just cracked down a massive organization that had managed to defraud over 15K investors including vulnerable older citizens , out of 325 billion won. According to a report by Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency’s Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit, they have arrested 215 people associated with the scam. Among them 12 were considered higher level organizers of the plan. Every one of the suspects now face charges under South Korea’s Aggravated Punishment Act for Specific Economic Crimes.

The scam was mostly successful because of the influence of a youtuber who goes by the name “Mr. A”, he is the alleged ring-leader of this scam. He used his influence to lure in  investors with claims of quick riches, encouraging some to even sell their homes and take out loans to buy crypto assets that would supposedly yield “20 times the principal.” 

The scam was active from December 2021 to March 2023, and offered 28 different types of cryptocurrency tokens, six of which were self-created and listed on overseas exchanges to attract buyers. The scam was cruel on so many levels, victim’s personal info were also misused, many of them lost their life’s savings in this scheme. The alleged leader Mr.A ran away from South Korea and was eventually arrested in Australia.

Police reported that they found across 1444 bank accounts and seized 22 bitcoins which is worth $1.9 million, and requested court approval to confiscate approximately $34 million linked to the scam. They are now working on to get victims money returned to them and prevent further financial crimes.

AI-Powered Phishing Scams Take Aim at Crypto Users

Summary

Kaspersky’s AI Research Center says that cybercriminals are using Large Language Models (LLMs) to pump out tons of phishing and scam content. Their goal is simply to produce fake websites, especially to steal from crypto investors and wallet users. But there’s a trick that helps us differ these sites from actual legit ones.

Experts from Kaspersky’s AI Research Center claims to have discovered an increase in the use of Large Language Models used by cybercriminals, in order to scam people using large-scale scam and phishing attacks. They say these websites are created in bulks and every single one of them is specifically designed to lure the investors into their scam. But there’s a kick: every such website contains a distinguishable artifacts such as AI-specific phrases which makes them a bit easier to avoid. Reportedly, most of these phishing websites target users of cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets.

A big giveaway of such AI created sites is using phrases such as “As an AI language model…” and refusal to do certain tasks like, acting like a search engine or logging into sites, which are showing up on fake crypto sites targeting KuCoin, Gemini, and Exodus users. Another major giveaway is using phrases like “While I can’t do exactly what you want, I can try something similar,” this feels really obvious machine-made style of talk. According to Vladislav Tushkanov, threat actors can now pump out lots of these scam pages quickly with AI, filling entire sites, text, and even hidden tags with these tells.

But lately, cybercriminals have started to throw in non-standard symbols to dodge detection. Tushkanov further said that these AI powered scams are evolving rapidly, there are even records of AI writing malware scripts on their own, one way to defend is to catch AI made mistakes but even so, advanced security tools are must use. To stay safe, always double check links, type site addresses manually and only use modern security software.

Austria Sentences Five in Landmark $21.6M Crypto Scam Trial

Summary

Five individuals were sentenced to prison for their roles in a Ponzi-like scheme. This incident occured in Austria, where the sentenced individuals involved themselves in the EXW-Token scam that defrauded over 40,000 investors out of €20 million ($21.6 million).

Landmark Crypto Fraud Trial Ends in Sentencing

Austria’s largest crypto fraud case to date, took a year-long trial and 60 days of hearings. The Klagenfurt Regional Court sentenced five individuals involved in the EXW-token scam. The individuals were found guilty of running a Ponzi-like scheme, persuading investors with promises of daily returns through fraudulent ventures,including the EXW Wallet and fictitious investments in real estate and rental cars.This fraudulent scheme had already collapsed in 2020 but briefly managed to resurface under the name Exchange World.

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Lavish Spending Funded by Fraud

Court recordings reveal that the defendants were using the stolen funds to facilitate their lavish lifestyles; luxury cars, private jets and mansions. Out of all the stolen goods some of the stolen goods was allegedly transfered from Dubai to Austria.Two of the defendants received five-year sentences, with others handed 30-month and 18-month suspended sentences. EXW Wallet co-founders Benjamin Herzog and Pirmin Troger had already pleaded guilty and received five-year sentences.

A Rising Global Threat

The EXW-Token case highlights a troubling increase in crypto scams globally. France recently began its own $30 million crypto fraud trial, while the U.S. sentenced a Ponzi promoter to prison. With crypto-related frauds surging, authorities worldwide are cracking down to protect investors and maintain trust in the cryptocurrency market.

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