Two OneCoin Promoters Found Dead in Mexico

Two promoters of a major cryptocurrency exit scam, OneCoin, have been found dead in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Oscar Brito Ibarra and Ignacio Ibarra, two major OneCoin promoters, were apparently kidnapped and killed in Mexico, Cointelegraph en Español reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the two men were promoting OneCoin as a payment method for a local car firm, the Latin American Automotive Marketing Company.

The terrifying news was first reported by major Latin American publication, La Tercera, on Saturday. According to the report, the bodies of Brito and Ibarra were found stuffed into suitcases and dumped in a vacant lot. According to examinations, the two men were apparently killed by suffocation.

OneCoin was a known scam by the time Oscar Brito Ibarra joined it

According to La Tercera, the story began in 2017, when Oscar Brito Ibarra, a Chilean citizen, first signed up to OneCoin scheme as an affiliate. Founded in 2014, OneCoin project already emerged as a major crypto scam by that time, with a number of global authorities labeling it as a “ponzi scheme” in 2017.

After promoting OneCoin for a while, Oscar Brito Ibarra reportedly got an Argentinian partner, Ignacio Ibarra, involved to promote the CLA by offering discounts for making purchasing vehicles with the OneCoin token. According to the report, the promised cars were never delivered despite the two men continuing to promote the scam across the Latin America.

Local cartels might have been involved in the murder

About 140 people in Argentina were scammed by CLA by the end of 2019, with some of them having lost up to $400,000, the report notes.

On June 20, Brito and Ibarra traveled to Mazatlan, Sinaloa. The exact reason for the trip remains unclear, although the trip could apparently have been linked to the CLA, La Tercera reported. The bodies of the two men were found a few days after, the report says.

Citing a report by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, La Tercera suggested that the murders could have involved local cartels that increasingly deal with cryptocurrencies to launder money.

OneCoin is known as a major crypto exit scam alongside famous crypto scam BitConnect. The Bulgaria-based firm purportedly still remains fully operational to date despite investigators’ allegations that it raised 4 billion euro ($4.4 billion) in a Ponzi scheme. Earlier in July, a Singaporean man was found guilty of operating OneCoin and was fined $72,000.