Blockchain Center has compiled data for some of the biggest Bitcoin (BTC) hodlers — from the Winklevoss twins to various scammers and hackers, and even “zombie coins”. Allegedly, the twins own 150,000 BTC, which places them between the Bitfinex hackers, who own 120,000 BTC, and the Mt. Gox trustees who lay claim to 166,000 BTC. One spot above the latter is occupied by another notable scam — the Plus Token scammers, who allegedly hold 200,000 BTC. Tim Draper supposedly holds a paltry 30,000 BTC, which he acquired in a government auction of coins seized from Silk Road. "Zombie coins” are …

A major suspect in a high-profile theft case related to Bitcoin (BTC) trading has pleaded guilty in a Singaporean court. Syed Mokhtar Syed Yusope, an accomplice in a $360,000 robbery, pleaded guilty in a district court to a robbery charge on Sept. 9, Singeporean news agency The Straits Times reports. Mokhtar, alongside his two accomplices, Jaromel Gee Ming Li and Mohd Abdul Rahman Mohamad, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from a Malaysian man in Singapore. Pretending to represent a Bitcoin broker, the group duped the victim into believing that they wanted to sell him Bitcoin for cash. …

A securities regulator in the United States, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB), has detected another batch of alleged cryptocurrency scams. On Sept. 3, Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles entered an Emergency Cease and Desist Order against two alleged crypto scam schemes known as Forex Birds and PEK Universe. The published order names Kumar Babu Bondesi and Darwin Eric Balusek as the alleged operators of the schemes. According to the TSSB, Balusek is also known under the nickname “Bitcoin Pope.” Operating abroad, the respondents are accused of fraudulent securities offerings tied to foreign exchange (forex) and cryptocurrencies, the authority …

A recent filing from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, takes action against three individuals for allegedly raising millions of dollars against more than 1,000 victims. "From 2017 to May 2019, Jali, Frimpong, and Johnson, directly and through two entities created to perpetrate the scheme, Smart Partners and 1st Million (the 'Companies'), fraudulently raised more than $27 million from approximately 1,200 investors, many of them African immigrants," an Aug. 28 legal filing states. The allegations claim the three individuals used their influence in churches and health care, preying on commonalities and beliefs of those around them for …

A Reddit user operating under the name “seraf1990” warned of a copy & paste crypto scam that replaced a wallet address he copied from Coinbase with one belonging to scammers. According to seraf1990, he lost about $350 worth of Bitcoin (BTC) — money that he notes was meant to go towards his rent for next month. The post explains that seraf1990 was attempting to cash out some BTC by sending it from Binance to his account on Coinbase. After copying the exchange’s Bitcoin wallet address, he pasted it into the appropriate field back on Binance and completed the transaction “without …

Micheal O’Leary, the CEO of major budget airline Ryanair, has come out very bearish on Bitcoin (BTC). Recently speaking to The Times, O’Leary likened Bitcoin to a Ponzi scheme and advised investors to avoid it: “I have never, and would never, invest one cent in Bitcoin, which I believe is equivalent to a Ponzi scheme. [...] I would strongly advise everyone with any shred of common sense to ignore this false story and avoid Bitcoin like a plague.” O’Leary was referring to an apparent crypto scam, “Bitcoin Lifestyle,” which claimed to have his approval in a promotional campaign. A bogus …

Craig Wright, a self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin (BTC), is reportedly ignoring a court ruling that requires him to pay legal fees for a libel suit against Twitter crypto persona Hodlonaut. According to Hodlonaut, a court in Norway ruled that Wright should pay $60,000 in legal costs for the failed libel suit in early June 2020. In an Aug. 13 tweet, Hodlonaut said that the fees should have been paid out by Wright within two weeks after the judgement on June 8. However, the self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto “has not paid a cent” in more than two months after the judgement, Hodlonaut …

Facial recognition can help prevent future Bitcoin (BTC) scams like those that hit Twitter and YouTube, said Rod Hsu, president and co-founder of virtual currency platform Coincurve. During an interview with Cointelegraph, Hsu said Bitcoin is an electronic form of currency that is non-reversible and somewhat anonymous, “coupled with this gap in understanding makes it appealing for scam artists.” But because of the negative publicity the cryptocurrency got with the scams, it may have discouraged many from adopting it. “Due to the nature of this, people may see scams and Bitcoin being synonymous. In either traditional payment methods or Bitcoin, …

Konstantin Ignatov, a major figure behind OneCoin cryptocurrency exit scam, was dismissed from a civil class action brought by OneCoin victims. According to an Aug. 7 report by Finance Magnates, OneCoin investors have agreed for a settlement with Ignatov. In a court filing on Aug. 6, plaintiffs Donald Berdeaux and Christine Grablis agreed to discontinue the claims asserted against Ignatov. Still facing up to 90 years in jail in a legal action brought by the United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ), Ignatov is apparently no longer one of the key figures in a civil case, which is related to financial …

The story of PlusToken, one of the largest scams in the cryptocurrency industry, takes another twist as dozens of major suspects have been arrested. As many as 27 core PlusToken team members have been arrested by Chinese police, according to a July 30 report by local industry publication ChainNews. According to the report, the total amount of investor losses in the PlusToken scam is estimated at 40 billion Chinese yuan or $5.7 billion. The report also mentions that investigators have also arrested another 82 core members of the scheme. Dovey Wan, founding partner of blockchain-based investment company Primitive Ventures, tweeted …

Crypto terrorists threatened to bomb a government office on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. They told authorities that they would only disable the alleged explosive device if their crypto ransom was paid. According to FNN, the terrorists sent the Numata Town Hall an email stating they had installed a bomb in a women’s second-floor toilet. They claimed that as long as officials met their payment demands before 03:00 UTC on June 29, the bomb would not be detonated. However, this appears to have been a fake threat. The deadline set by the criminals has passed and the hall remains intact …

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. …