Ukrainian police have arrested a group of four men suspected of running six fake cryptocurrency exchanges, Bleeping Computer reported June 21. Four men between ages 20 and 26 allegedly launched at least six digital currency exchanges, where they deceived users, subsequently stealing money from them. The alleged culprits lured users by promoting the exchanges with fake positive ratings and online reviews. The police reportedly said that the suspects had "special knowledge and skills in the field of programming" and "have created their own CMS-system for managing the content of exchange sites." During the raid of the suspects’ homes, the police …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received an additional emergency court order to freeze the assets of Dominic Lacroix, owner of PlexCorps, in an ongoing enforcement action, Crowdfund Insider reported June 20. The SEC had previously sued Lacroix for securities fraud and received an emergency asset freeze order in December, 2017. The order was unsealed June 18. The SEC alleges that, since December, Lacroix has been using secret accounts, including an account in his brother’s name which he controlled, to dissipate assets obtained from investors with the PlexCoin ICO. The SEC is looking to collect interest, penalties, as …

The South Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (MIC) has launched an investigation into the theft of $30 mln from the world’s sixth largest crypto exchange Bithumb, Yonhap News reports Wednesday, June 20. Bithumb, which is the leading crypto exchange in South Korea, temporarily suspended all deposits and payments on the exchange as soon as it had detected the theft. According to Yonhap, the Ministry has said that as soon as it reported the Bithumb hack, the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) joined an urgent investigation into the case. The Ministry now plans to analyze the causes of the …

Hackers have stolen cryptocurrencies worth $30 million from South Korea's leading virtual currency exchange Bithumb, Cointelegraph Japan reported June 19. As a result all deposits and payments have been temporarily suspended. *All deposit and withdrawal service will be stopped to make sure the security. We will keep notice you of the restart of the service. We apologize for your inconvenience and thanks for your understanding. — Bithumb (@BithumbOfficial) June 20, 2018 The exchange states it will compensate users affected by the hack, and that all assets are being moved to a cold wallet: “[Notice for the suspension of all deposit …

Turcoin, advertised by its creators as Turkey’s “national” cryptocurrency, has been outed as a ponzi scheme, Hürriyet Daily News reports Monday, June 18. Muhammed Satıroğlu, a major shareholder of the company that launched the coin has told the media it “doesn’t have a single dollar in the bank.” Istanbul-based company Hipper, whose partners Muhammed Satıroğlu and Sadun Kaya launched ‘Turcoin’ in 2017, is the subject of a criminal complaint after payouts to investors stopped in early June 2018. Speaking to local outlet Hürriyet Daily News, Satıroğlu, who owns a 49 percent stake in Hipper, claimed he was “only a mediator” …

Cybersecurity company Carbon Black announced that roughly $1.1 bln worth of digital currency has been stolen in the first half of 2018, CNBC reported June 7. The security company said that criminals take advantage of the dark web to facilitate large-scale cryptocurrency theft. Estimates reportedly show that there are 12,000 marketplaces and 34,000 offerings associated with cryptotheft hackers can take advantage of. The dark web can be only accessed with the application of special software and allows users to stay anonymous and mostly untraceable. Carbon Black Security strategist Rick McElroy, who was interviewed by CNBC, said that basic malware costs …

The GuardiCore security team has discovered a malicious traffic manipulation and cryptocurrency mining campaign, according to an announcement published June 6. The campaign infected over 40,000 machines across various industries, including finance, education, and government. The campaign called Operation Prowli used various techniques like exploits and password brute-forcing to spread malware and take over devices, such as web servers, modems, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. GuardiCore found that the attackers behind Prowli were focused on making money rather than ideology or espionage. According to the report, the compromised devices were infected with a Monero (XMR) miner and the r2r2 worm, a …

Belgian authorities have launched a website to raise awareness of the risks associated with investments in crypto, the FPS Economy (FPS) announced in a public statement June 5. The FPS noted the sharp spike in interest towards crypto investments, which they said “causes a lot more people to be scammed.” According to the statement, Belgian investors reported the loss of €2.2 mln ($2.5 mln) in crypto scams to the FPS last year. The FPS said that this is “just the tip of the iceberg” as only 4 percent of crypto fraud cases are reported. Per their estimations, investors in Belgium …

South African Police are pursuing an alleged major cryptocurrency investment fraud, according to a police statement released yesterday, May 25. According to the statement, over 28,000 investors are said to have suffered losses exceeding 1 bln rand ($80.4 mln). The Hawks, an investigative unit of South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), have outlined the case, which they say involves “BitCaw Trading Company, commonly known as BTC Global”: “[Targeted members of the public are believed to have been] encouraged by BTC Global agents to invest with promises of 2% interest per day, 14% per week and ultimately 50% per …

The kidnappers of a 13-year-old boy in South Africa have demanded a ransom of 15 bitcoins (BTC) - around $120,000 - for his release, The Guardian reported Tuesday, May 22. Local police stated that on Sunday, May 20, three gang members pulled up in a car near to where the teenager, Kathlego Marite, was playing with two friends close to his home in the town of Witbank. Witnesses said the men dragged him into the vehicle, leaving their ransom note at the scene. The “non-negotiable” note reportedly threatens to kill the boy if the demands are not met, with the …

The last four suspects in a two year case against alleged pyramid scheme OneCoin have been prosecuted in China’s Hunan Province, government-supported local news source the Justice Network reports Wednesday, May 23. The Zhuzhou Country Procuratorate of the Hunan Province examined 106 people, publicly prosecuted 98, and recovered around 1.7 bln yuan (around $266 mln) from over 20 provinces across China in the course of the case. Those prosecuted have received up to 10,000 - 5 mln yuan in fines (about $1,500 - $782,000) as well as four years or less of prison time. In 2016, Chinese authorities had already …

Australian consumers lost approximately $2.1 mln to cryptocurrency scams last year, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) annual scams report published May 21. The ACCC’s analysis reveals that the use of digital currencies as a payment method in scams peaked in the last quarter of 2017. Almost $100,000 was reported lost per month to cryptocurrency-based scams from January to September, while in December, reported losses exceeded $700,000. The average reported loss in December had soared to $13,205 from $1,885 in January. Among major means of deceiving users, the Commission highlighted fake initial coin offerings (ICO), pyramid schemes, …