Where's My Money?

Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse is suing YouTube over an alleged failure to crack down on scammers. Garlinghouse claims ‘irreparable’ damage to this company’s reputation as a result.

A hacker from Tel Aviv was indicted for his alleged involvement in the theft of $1.75 million in cryptocurrency. The hacker is facing charges of theft, fraud, aggravated counterfeiting, use of a forged document, perjury, money laundering, as well as other computer law and tax code violations.

A $30 million lawsuit has been filed against a troubled cryptocurrency that claimed to be backed by diamonds. Over 300 amateur investors were defrauded by the owners of two diamond companies, who attempted to create a cryptocurrency to keep a failed Ponzi scheme running. 

A gang of masked men were seen raiding a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange in Birmingham. Luckily, nothing of value was taken during the odd encounter, but an investigation is underway to get to the bottom of the mystery.

U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other law enforcement agencies to tackle financial crimes involving cryptocurrencies. A comprehensive action plan has been drafted to combat illegal financial activity.

At around 17:00 UTC on June 26 or 01:00 on June 27 in Singapore, where digital asset exchange Bitrue is based, a security breach occurred, which resulted in a loss of $4.5 million in crypto from the exchange’s hot wallets.

Further details emerge on the QuadrigaCX case, with Ernst and Young claiming that co-founder Gerald Cotton absconded with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of users’ funds over the course of three years – and lost much of it trading poorly on competing exchanges.

UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has uncovered another allegedly fraudulent crypto-related scheme.

A gang of criminals in Brazil have reportedly stolen more than $200 million from around 55,000 local residents.

Japan’s financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), is reportedly planning to closely monitor cryptocurrency transactions due to heightened concerns regarding their use in financing illicit activities.

Authorities in China have reportedly uncovered a fraudulent cryptocurrency mining scheme, through which 2 billion Renminbi (appr. $293 million) was stolen from the victims.  

US courts have reportedly charged six individuals for their alleged involvement in a “SIM swapping” attack, through which they stole approximately $2.4 million in cryptoassets from several investors.

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol, has reportedly supported Spain in uncovering a recent financial crime involving “large-scale” cryptocurrency money laundering “services.”

The hacker(s) who performed a large-scale security breach on Binance have now transferred the 7,070 Bitcoin (BTC) they stole to only seven addresses. Security analysts are tracking the stolen bitcoin.

A cryptocurrency investor has reportedly lost his life-savings after falling for a scam involving Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s most dominant cryptocurrency.  

Cryptocurrency scammers have reportedly been posing as government officials and asking people to make payments in Bitcoin (BTC) or use prepaid gift cards.

The government in India’s capital of New Delhi has reportedly launched several inter-ministerial consultations regarding a draft bill which has proposed a nationwide ban on cryptocurrencies.  

Chinese authorities have reportedly uncovered a cryptocurrency-related crime involving the promoters of HeroChain, a 300 million Chinese Yuan (CNY) fraudulent scheme.    

Envion, a Zug, Switzerland-based firm focused on developing “mobile blockchain mining” software, has been accused of “unlawfully receiving deposits” from approximately 37,000 investors. 

Police officials in Lahore, Pakistan have reportedly uncovered a financial crime involving suspects who had kidnapped a local resident and had also demanded that a ransom be paid in Bitcoin (BTC). Notably, the criminals allegedly involved in the incident included Mazhar Abbas, who had been working as a phone operator in the office of Lahore’s deputy commissioner (DC). 

The US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York announced Tuesday a nine-count indictment against a Staten Island resident, named Patrick McDonnell. According to an investigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ), McDonnell had allegedly solicited investments on Twitter and Facebook. However, the DoJ noted in a press release (published on March 26th, 2019) that the “defendant reportedly stole the money for personal use.”

A Canadian cryptocurrency trader who previously traded on the troubled digital asset exchange, QuadrigaCX has revealed that he lost $75,000 after the trading platform began experiencing numerous problems.

Mumbai, India’s city crime branch has reported that they’ve cracked down on another fraudulent cryptocurrency-related investment scheme. In this particular incident, Indian police officials have taken four additional male suspects into custody – after having uncovered what appears to be one of several new scams involving cryptocurrencies. 

Augur (REP), one of the largest decentralized prediction market platforms, reportedly has a vulnerability which was recently exploited by several bad actors.

An 18-year-old Japanese citizen has reportedly been taken into police custody for allegedly stealing ¥15 million (appr. $134,300) in cryptocurrency. 

Police officials in Dubai, United Arab Emirates’ business and financial hub, have reportedly charged three Pakistani citizens for allegedly stealing approximately $250,000, or 1 million Dirhams (AED), from a group of Chinese expats.    

EOS, one of the world’s largest platforms for building and deploying decentralized applications (dApps), might be vulnerable to an attack – according to Chinese cybersecurity firm, SlowMist Technology Co. Ltd. 

The developers of “OneCoin” have been charged by the US District Attorney for allegedly promoting a fraudulent cryptocurrency-related pyramid scheme. According to a notice published on March 8th by the US Attorney Office of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Mark Scott and Konstantin Ignatov, who are the founders of OneCoin, were taken into police custody on March 6th, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. 

Vitaly Mzokov, the head of commercialization at Kaspersky Lab, a leading Moscow-based global cybersecurity and anti-virus solutions provider, recently shared his views with CryptoGlobe regarding the main security threats related to decentralized cryptocurrency platforms such as the Bitcoin (BTC) network. 

A researcher has recently published a report that claims to have tracked a trail of 12 wallets to find $90 million worth of Ethereum belonging to the embattled cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX.

The embattled cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, which has claimed to be locked out of $145 million worth of crypto in cold storage, seemingly doesn’t have the funds, as a court-appointed monitor, Ernst and Young, found six empty cold storage wallets.

Police officials in India have reportedly apprehended Hardik Zadafiya, a local resident who has been accused of being involved in a fraudulent cryptocurrency-related scheme. According to the Times of India, four other individuals allegedly involved in the crypto-related crime have not yet been arrested. 

The New Zealand-based exchange have been given the go-ahead by national police to reopen for business, more than two months after what was presumably a hack saw the loss of almost 10% of the exchange’s funds. Still unknown when users will regain access.

$100,000 of a total half a billion dollars worth of bitcoin hacked from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016 is being distributed to special Bitfinex token holders, after 27 bitcoin were returned to the exchange by ‘US law enforcement’.

A years-long investigation involving a host of US and Romanian agencies clamps shut on a scam and money-laundering ring, operating out of Romania. Twelve Romanian nationals have been extradited to the US to face charges, after millions of dollars stolen.

QuadrigaCX, a controversial Canadian crypto exchange that owes its customers $190 million in digital assets and fiat currency, has reportedly lost an additional $500,000 CAD (appr. $378,495).

GoxDox.com, a site dedicated to releasing information surrounding Mt.Gox, claims that the BitPoint exchange was charged with liquidating large amounts of the Mt.Gox Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash estate.

A years-old dispute between Mt. Gox’s payment trustee and a former business partner, CoinLab, has been holding up disbursement of funds to burned users for years. But the $75 million has lately become a $16 billion (with a “B”) claim – and nobody knows why.

Police in China recently busted a massive cryptocurrency scam operation called “I Am a Clown” (IAC). In a raid of the group’s villa, police found 1.3 billion yuan (or $193 million) in cash.

A Florence bankruptcy court has ordered the forced bankruptcy of BitGrail exchange and its owner, and seizure of their assets in order to repay customers who lost tokens on the exchange. The court found Firano and the exchange responsible for all bugs that may have contributed.

Authorities in New Taipei, a special municipality and Taiwan’s most populous city, have arrested fifteen local residents for allegedly being involved in orchestrating a digital currency scam through which they stole millions of dollars. According to local news outlets, Li Chi-hsun, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB), revealed during a meeting with reporters that fifteen suspects and their alleged leader (surnamed Lin) were taken into police custody. 

Cooperation between Europol and police in the United Kingdom and Germany has resulted in the arrest of a man suspected of stealing around $11 million in IOTA. German authorities allegedly identified the suspect last year and referred the case to UK police since he was living in the UK.  

Elementus, a blockchain analysis firm, has compiled research on the recent hack of the Cryptopia exchange – and have found that the attack was somewhat unusual in its scope and duration. They reach a qualified conclusion that the exchange lost broad control of its wallet keys.

Haven, a type of algorithmic stablecoin based on Monero, was accused of being a dead project by its own non-critical team members – and an exit scam by many in the industry. The developer behing the coin has pushed back against the claims after resurfacing.

Two executives from South Korea-based digital currency exchange Komid have reportedly been sentenced to serve time in jail as they have been charged with “fraud, embezzlement, and misconduct”, according to local news outlets. Choi, who is the CEO of Komid, was sentenced to 3 years in prison on January 17th. 

In the wake of the Cryptopia hack, at least 40 users are now trying to get their funds back. Police are trying to conduct an investigation into the disappeared funds, but there’s a growing amount of skepticism that the money will actually show up. Some think the exchange might have been more of a target since it focused on lesser-known coins.

Canadian cryptoasset exchange, QuadrigaCX is reportedly working on a backlog of withdrawal requests from clients who claim they are unable to get their money back. In mid-November 2018, Canada, Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice had taken over custody and liability of nearly $20 million worth of funds that were being held by QuadrigaCX’s management. 

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao – perhaps better known as CZ – has responded to calls from Twitter users to block funds identified as coming from the recent hack of New Zealand crypto-asset exchange, Cryptopia. 

Following the announcement of a hack on New Zealand-based exchange Cryptopia early yesterday morning, one Reddit user reckons they have eyes on the wallets moving the stolen Ethereum-based funds. However, their observations throw up some interesting questions regarding the timeline of events.

An Ethereum ERC-20 compliant token called “XRP Classic” (XRPC) has surfaced and it has recorded $526 in trading volume in the past 24 hours. Looking at other details related to XRP Classic show that its total supply is around 645 billion XRPC, however CoinMarketCap’s market data tools have not been able to track its circulating supply.

The official Twitter account of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB), a non-profit organization focused on promoting various businesses in the European nation, appears to have been compromised. The attacker(s) had first changed the hacked account’s display name to “Coinbase” and claimed it was an “official promotion account” of the San Francisco-based digital currency exchange, Coinbase.

Several users on Reddit and Twitter have raised some red flags regarding Substratum, an open-source project aimed at creating a foundation for the decentralized web. The more recent concerns about the project were raised by crypto enthusiast Brian Li over a series of tweets. 

A lawsuit filed last April against the developers of Nano – once RaiBlocks – has commenced. The developers are accused of securities violations, as well as nine other charges. Nearly $200 million worth of Nano was lost lack year in what many thought was an exit scam.

Europe-based digital currency exchange HitBTC has reportedly frozen its clients’ account ahead of the Proof of Keys event, which is scheduled to be held on January 3rd. The annual Proof of Keys event is part of a movement started by Trace Mayer, a well-known bitcoin (BTC) investor and host of the Bitcoin Knowledge podcast. Those who participate in the event withdraw their digital currency from centralized exchanges (or any other third-party service) every year on January 3rd. 

Approximately 1,000 different cryptocurrency-related projects failed in 2018, according to data from DeadCoins and Coinopsy. Many of the dead crypto projects were outright scams which were orchestrated under the guise of initial coin offerings (ICOs). Included in DeadCoins and Coinpsy’s long list of abandoned and/or fraudulent digital currency schemes is BitConnect, which is considered one of the largest crypto-related Ponzi scheme scams in history.    

Cryptoasset exchange Bithumb recently won a lawsuit against an investor who had sued the South Korean company for his losses of about $355,000 due to an alleged hack of his Bithumb account. The 30-year-old investor who had filed a lawsuit against Bithumb is a civil servant named Ahn Park. The outcome or the court ruling regarding the case was that the alleged loss of funds from Park’s account was not due to any reasons for which Bithumb may held responsible.

A new Bloomberg report suggest that Tether Ltd may really have $1 for every USDT in circulation. Published a few hours ago, the report indicates that Bloomberg has documents in their possession that “offer more detail than has ever been made public”. The documents were not shared and do not provide a complete overview of Tether’s finances. However, bank statements from four separate months reveal the amount of dollars held in Tether Ltd.’s accounts. 

On Sunday (December 16th), there had been reports and a video shared on social media which appeared to show Chinese resident, Wong Ching Kit, throwing money off the roof of a building located in Sham Shui Po, an area of Kowtoon, Hong Kong. An update on the incident has now revealed that Kit was arrested after local authorities saw him throwing money. 

The Venezuelan government has converted old age pensions into Petro, the nation-backed cryptocurrency. The news was reported yesterday by Caracas Chronicles, a group blog focused on Venezuelan politics and economics. Elderly Venezuelans are accustomed to receiving a message every time a government pension arrives. However, on December 7, they received two messages.

Dooga Ltd., a UK-based company which traded under the registered trademark “Cubits”, has reported that it was “the victim of a serious criminal act” – which allegedly involves its customers “colluding with fraudsters” to steal €29 million in bitcoin (BTC).