Police in New Taipei, Taiwan, have arrested fifteen suspects for allegedly running a cryptocurrency scam that earned them millions of dollars, English-language local media Focus Taiwan reports on Jan. 26. According to the article, the chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) Li Chi-hsun said at a press conference that the fifteen suspects — including the alleged leader surnamed Lin — have been arrested in two separate raids carried out on Jan. 9 and Jan. 17. The arrested suspects have been reportedly charged with fraud, and the case has been handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office. The group …

A link to a phishing LocalBitcoins clone website had been placed on the official LocalBitcoins forum, but the attack has since been stopped. A LocalBitcoins community manager warned of the attack on Reddit on Jan. 26. According to the post, an unidentified hacker or hacker group detected a security vulnerability in the LocalBitcoins forum and linked it to a phishing forum. Even before the official communication, a Reddit user warned in a post on the Bitcoin (BTC) subreddit: “When visiting the localbitcoins forum [...] users are prompted to log into their account, as if they have been logged out. This …

The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has issued a warning against an alleged global scam scheme known as “Bitcoin Revolution,” according to an official document published today, Jan. 25. According to the Maltese regulator, the alleged crypto scam represents a typical get-rich-quick scheme, and operates through the website the-bitcoinrevolution.org and several other unnamed websites. The fraudulent entity also reportedly promotes its scheme by using advertising on unspecified social media platforms that redirects users to pages containing a number of prominent local personalities that claim to make large profits from crypto investments. The warning statement notes users are redirected to those …

Two leaders of the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Komid were reportedly sentenced to serve jail time for faking exchange volumes, Korean crypto media outlet blockinpress reports on Jan. 18. The exchange’s CEO, surnamed Choi, received a three-year sentence, while another company leader with an unspecified role was purportedly sentenced to two years imprisonment for fraud, embezzlement and misconduct, the article notes. The charges reportedly outline a scheme where the exchange faked 5 million transactions in order to inflate the volume, which reportedly earned them $45 million. It is also suspected that the company used a bot to automatically create large …

A 21-year old American has been accused of stealing millions of dollars in crypto via a method known as SIM swapping, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Jan. 17. As reported, plaintiff Michael Terpin — a long-time blockchain and crypto investor — first filed a lawsuit against AT&T last August, accusing the firm of negligence that allegedly allowed the suspect to gain control over Terpin’s phone number and steal almost $24 million worth of crypto. SIM-swapping — also known as a “port-out scam” — involves the theft of a cell phone number in order to hijack online financial …

Police in New Zealand confirmed they are investigating what appears to be a major hack of local cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia worth at least $3.6 million, a press release stated on Jan. 16. Cryptopia, which abruptly shut down its website and exchange services on Jan. 14, subsequently said it had detected malicious activity. “The Cryptopia exchange suffered a security breach which resulted in significant losses,” officials wrote in a statement uploaded to the company’s Twitter account. As users and the media learned of the hack, Cryptopia has since said it will not comment further on the ongoing proceedings as it is …

New Zealand digital assets exchange Cryptopia has suspended services after detecting a major hack that has reportedly “resulted in significant losses,” according to a tweet posted today, Jan. 15. The exchange revealed in the tweet that the hack occurred yesterday, Jan. 14. The platform had initially informed the public it was undergoing unscheduled maintenance, issuing several similarly laconic updates before today’s official disclosure of the breach. According to today’s tweet, the exchange has notified government agencies and authorities, including the New Zealand Police and High Tech Crimes Unit, who have reportedly opened an investigation into the matter and are allegedly …

The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has added 23 unauthorized forex and cryptocurrency entities to its warning list on Jan. 14. Among the companies added to the list is Blonde Bear OÜ, also referred to as Black Parrot Ltd., which claims to be a forex and cryptocurrency exchange operator but reportedly operates in Spain without a license. The company, which operated on the trade111.com and tradex1.com domains, has also been flagged by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for operating in Poland without the required license. Another company added to the CNMV’s warning list is Dax300, also known as Brown …

This article has been updated to include comments from MyEtherWallet concerning the clone phishing site. Altcoins Ethereum Nowa (ETN) and Ethereum Classic Vision (ETCV) are reportedly appropriating the private keys of users trying to redeem their allegedly forked coins. The suspected scam was covered in a report sent to Cointelegraph by the Guarda Wallet development team on Jan. 11. The official website of the Ethereum Nowa project — which doesn’t contain a white paper — describes the process that users are supposed to engage in to obtain ETN. According to the website, the user should first send ETH to an …

A Maltese actor and two hosts of a local TV show have notified the police after a false report that they are involved in a Bitcoin investment scheme called “Bitcoin Revolution.” The story was reported by the Malta Independent and Malta Today on Thursday, Jan. 10. As per the Malta Independent, an article with a fake endorsement of Bitcoin Revolution was initially published on a website called Major News. It depicted two hosts of the One Breakfast show, Wayne Sammut and Elaine Degiorgio, and falsely claimed that Davide Tucci, a Maltese actor and TV star, was a guest on their …

The Twitter account of a Belgian non-profit was evidently hacked and made into a fake affiliate account of United States crypto exchange Coinbase. The impersonating account posted what what appeared to be a scam giveaway promotion, allegedly celebrating Coinbase's user base growth in a tweet today, Jan. 9, that has since been deleted. Scammers had targeted the account of the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB), a non-profit organization that aims to promote the interests of Belgian businesses. After taking control of the FEB’s Twitter account, the scammers transformed the account to appear to be affiliated with Coinbase. The account’s …

United States financial research company FactSet has filed a lawsuit against a company affiliated with professional trading service Blockchain Terminal (BCT), according to documents published by the Supreme Court for the State of New York County, Jan. 3. As stated in the lawsuit, in January, 2018, FactSet and the defendant — CG Blockchain — entered into an agreement to develop an interfacing application between the two firms' products. FactSet also granted a license to CG to use its products. According to the documents, CG had agreed to pay a minimum licensing fee of about $3.8 million, payable in three increments. …