Four out of the first five results presented when querying Google for a “bitcoin qr generator” lead to scam websites. The findings Cryptocurrency wallet ZenGo wrote the findings in a blog post published on Aug. 29. Reportedly, when researching prior to implementing QR Code support in their wallet, ZenGo learned of the prevalence of scam QR Code generators. The company explains how the alleged scam works: “These sites generate a QR code that encodes an address controlled by the scammers, instead of the one requested by the user, thus directing all payments for this QR code to the scammers.” QR …

A 48-year old Thai man who called himself the “cryptocurrency wizard” has been arrested in Bangkok over his alleged role in a 500 million baht ($16.3 million) crypto exchange fraud. The Bangkok Post reports on Sept. 5 that police nabbed Mana Jumuang, who has been under an arrest warrant since Aug. 23, while he was playing soccer in Bangkok’s Huai Khwang district yesterday. A $16.3 million scheme with victims across 10 countries According Pol Maj Gen Jiraphop Phuridet, commander of the Bangkok police’s Crime Suppression Division, Jumuang is accused of being part of a Thai-Vietnamese criminal group that targeted victims …

Chinese authorities arrested fifteen men suspected of corrupting an internet café administrator to mine cryptocurrency. Local crypto industry news outlet 8BTC reported on Sept. 3 that police in Henyang, a city in south central China’s Hunan province, arrested the man for cryptojacking. Over 9,000 computer administrators were reportedly involved in helping the unauthorized mining operation. A profitable endeavor The cryptocurrency mined by the suspects in the four months ending in July has been sold for over a hundred million yuan (about $14 million). Local police received a report suggesting that many local Internet cafes were running cryptojacking malware. The findings …

Neil Wals, chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Global Cybercrime Program, warned that cryptocurrencies have made combating money laundering significantly harder. Australian news outlet ABC reported on Aug. 29 that Wals said cryptocurrencies make fighting cybercrime, money laundering and financing of terrorism harder. Wals expressed the idea that criminals using crypto assets include global child sexual exploitation networks, which he says are more widespread than much of the public understands. Crypto adds a layer of secrecy He believes that cryptocurrencies add a layer of secrecy, which can facilitate crime. The news comes after Treasury Secretary Steven …

The individual accused of perpetrating a massive-scale hack of credit card issuer Capital One also allegedly hacked cloud customers’ servers to mine cryptocurrency for herself. Court filings published on Aug. 28 reveal that Paige A. Thompson has been indicted on charges of both perpetrating the Capital One breach and of hacking into the servers of her employer’s cloud services customers for the purposes of cryptojacking. “Cryptojacking” is an industry term for stealth crypto mining attacks which work by installing malware or otherwise gaining access to a computer’s processing power to mine for cryptocurrencies without the owner’s consent or knowledge. The …

Thailand’s securities regulator has warned the public about scam entities posing as legal digital currency trading firms operating overseas. Investor losses are not known The Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has discovered a new crypto scam where investors are lured into operating with companies outside the country, local English-language news outlet Bangkok Post reported on Aug. 25. The regulator has become aware of several fraudulent companies involved in the case, including an alleged scam operating under the name FX Trading Corporation, which is not authorized to trade in digital currencies. The Thai SEC stated that the amount of losses …

Chinese crypto exchange Huobi has seen the highest number of withdrawals from the alleged crypto Ponzi scheme PlusToken to date, according to new research. Chinese exchanges prevail New York-based blockchain infrastructure firm Elementus released a study on Aug. 23, claiming that almost 50% of the total number of PlusToken withdrawals were sent to Huobi. As Cointelegraph reported earlier in August, PlusToken apparently began a mass sell-off of Bitcoin (BTC) that may have been to blame for a $400 dip in BTC’s price over a matter of minutes. According to the research, PlusToken withdrawals on Huobi amounted to over 4.3 million …

Two Canadians of Indian origin were charged in the United States with a $233,220 Bitcoin (BTC) fraud using a fake HitBTC account on Twitter. Scammers posed as HitBTC customer service on Twitter Karanjit Singh Khatkar, 23, and Jagroop Singh Khatkar, 24, of Surrey, British Columbia, allegedly stole 23.2 Bitcoin from a woman in the U.S. state of Oregon, Indian publication The Week reports on Aug. 23, citing charges filed with the federal court. According to the report, the defendants used a fraudulent Twitter account named @HitBTCAssist to trick victims into believing they represented customer service from Hong Kong-based crypto exchange …

Professional services firm Grant Thornton claims that it has made good progress in securing and preserving the cryptocurrencies of hacked exchange Cryptopia. In a news release published on Aug. 21, Cryptopia’s liquidator said there were two reasons why it had taken so long to determine what the exchange’s customers had held. Grant Thornton explained that some customers did not have individual wallets and their funds were pooled together, as Cryptopia kept details of customer holdings in its database. As a consequence of this, the firm said it is impossible to determine individual ownership by relying on wallet keys. The liquidator …

Saudi Arabia’s Finance Ministry has warned against crypto tricksters using the kingdom’s official emblem to promote tokens that purport to be tied to government projects. Arab News reported on Aug. 21 that the ministry has identified a Singapore-based company promoting two fraudulent cryptocurrencies, dubbed “CryptoRiyal” and “SmartRiyal." Fraud alert: hype and pump CryptoRiyal and SmartRiyal’s promoters are reportedly claiming that their cryptocurrency project’s ultimate goal is to finance NEOM — a smart city and tourism hub currently under construction in the north of Saudi Arabia. The report cites an official statement issued yesterday from the ministry, which indicated that any …

Over $240 million in proceeds from the alleged crypto scheme PlusToken have reportedly moved through four Bitcoin (BTC) transactions. Whale Alert — a Twitter account dedicated to reporting large cryptocurrency transactions — posted on Aug. 17 that four transactions totaling 22,923 BTC were likely the proceeds of PlusToken. The four transactions moved 6,000 BTC, 5,000 BTC, 7,000 BTC and 4,923 BTC. All the transactions took place on Aug. 17. The monitor admits that, while the transactions are likely associated with the purported scheme, they are unconfirmed. Largest reported exit scam As Cointelegraph reported in an analysis of the biggest crypto …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance will compensate the white hat hacker who compromised Binance Jersey’s Internet domain name and Twitter account. Binance Jersey Twitter and domain compromised In a post published on Aug. 16, crypto exchange Binance Jersey announced that a white hat hacker was able to gain access to the @BinanceJE Twitter account (the official Binance Jersey profile) and the platform’s Internet domain name. Still, the company was able to recover the domain name within a few minutes, and the Twitter handle in some hours. Per the announcement, the hacker obtained access “by social engineering the email domain name service provider,” …