The Zambian Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) CEO, Philip Chitalu, has warned the public that cryptocurrency OnyxCoin creator Kwakoo is not licensed to give investment advice or solicit funds, from within and outside the country alike. The Lusaka Times relayed the Zambian SEC head’s warnings in a report on Aug. 2. According to the report, Kwakoo has been promoting Onyxcoin and soliciting investments from the Zambian public. Relatedly, CEO Chitalu notes that Securities Act, No. 41 of 2016 dictates that certain activities — such as Kwakoo’s — require proper licensure in Zambia, unless specifically exempted by law. Moreover, Chitalu noted …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has flagged an online Bitcoin (BTC) scam scheme that offers Bitcoin investment using forged claims by a former prime minister. Website uses forged statements by a former prime minister to solicit Bitcoin investment On July 31, Singapore's central bank and financial watchdog issued an official warning, stating that the agency has become aware of a website that invited online users to invest in Bitcoin via an article containing falsified claims. According to MAS, the scam website referenced fabricated statements falsely attributed to Goh Chok Tong, a local politician who served as Singapore's second prime …

Federal authorities in the state of New York have unsealed fraud charges against the principal of a purported cryptocurrency escrow company Volantis in the amount of over $7 million. According to an announcement by the Department of Justice (DoJ), the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) unsealed a filing with the allegations on July 25. The defendant, Volantis principal Jon Barry Thompson, was also arrested on the same day. Thompson allegedly made false representations about Volantis’ purported Bitcoin transaction …

The federal judge overseeing Terpin v. AT&T — a legal battle pertaining to stolen crypto via SIM-swapping that has been going on for almost a year — has denied the telecom giant’s motion for dismissal. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, investor Michael Terpin had sued AT&T for $224 million. Terpin reportedly lost $24 million as a result of theft, and is seeking an additional $200 million in punitive damages. Terpin claims that he lost the foregoing assets in two hacks within seven months, due to the telecom provider’s alleged cooperation with the hacker and gross negligence. Judge Wright denied AT&T’s …

Cyber criminals have been sending scam emails claiming to be from the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and promoting crypto assets investments, financial market-focused platform FT Adviser reported on July 22. The letter impersonating the FCA is entitled "Guaranteed chance to earn" and features the watchdog’s logo and branding. After reading that "Bitcoin is still a long way off its peak price of $20,000, which it reached in 2017, but some cryptocurrency experts believe it could hit an even higher value by 2020," it offers recipients to follow a link labelled "Click her." The FCA has reportedly confirmed that …

While Facebook is struggling to agree on its crypto project Libra, a wave of fake Libra accounts have come up online, including on Facebook itself. According to a report by The Washington Post on July 22, nearly a dozen fake Libra pages have circulated across Facebook and its social photo-sharing app Instagram, posing as official entities for the much-discussed digital currency. Facebook removed Libra scam pages only after alerted by Washington Post As said in the report, a number of those fake Facebook and Instagram accounts were removed on July 22 only after The Washington Post reported on them to …

The South Korean Justice Ministry estimates that cryptocurrency-related crimes have caused 2.69 trillion won (about $2.28 billion) of financial damage between July 2017 and June 2019. According to a July 21 report by English-language local media The Korea Herald, the ministry claimed that 132 cryptocurrency-related criminals and fraudsters had been indicted and detained, with another 288 indicted without physical detention during the aforementioned time frame. The report states that, while Justice Minister Park Sang-kim has ordered stern measures against cryptocurrency criminals, a lack of clear regulations on cryptocurrency exchanges has led to an increase in the use of quasi-anonymous or …

Eliyahu Gigi, a 31-year-old from Tel Aviv, has been charged with stealing over $1.7 billion in a variety of cryptocurrencies. Gigi allegedly stole Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Dash (DASH) from users in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. Lawyer Yeela Harel of the cyber department in the State Attorney's Office filed charges against Gigi on July 17, according to a report published the same day by Israeli business outlet Globes. Gigi has reportedly been charged with crimes including theft, fraud, and money laundering, among others. According to the report, Harel’s indictment claims that Gigi set up a network of scam …

Economist and anti-cryptocurrency pundit Nouriel Roubini has recently declared that there is “overwhelming evidence of rampant fraud and abuse” in the crypto space. Roubini, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, also took aim specifically at the compliance policies of crypto exchange BitMEX in an essay entitled “The Great Crypto Heist.” The essay was published by opinions publication site Project Syndicate on July 16. According to Roubini, anonymous sources from within BitMex told him that criminals perform a massive amount of money laundering on the exchange: “BitMEX insiders revealed to me that this exchange is also used daily for …

A group of Venezuelans has filed a lawsuit with a Florida Federal Court in connection with a Ponzi scheme. The scheme purportedly involved $30 million in cryptocurrency promoted by Canadian investment radio host Harold Seigel. Payment and commerce news outlet Pymnts.com reported today, July 16, that seven Venezuelans claim to have been lured into a $30 million worth digital currency Ponzi scheme conducted by companies such as Eagle Financial Diamond Group Inc. and Argyle Coin. The cryptocurrency involved into the fraud was reportedly pegged to diamonds. The frauds allegedly used raised funds to pay back earlier investors The plaintiffs accuse …

Former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul says he is in favor of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology because he likes competing currencies. Ron Paul delivered his remarks in a “Squawk Alley” interview on CNBC on July 15. According to Paul, cryptocurrencies are a great idea, and governments should only step in to regulate the space to prevent fraud: “I’m for the least amount of regulation. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to cryptocurrencies. I think it’s a great idea. And I only have one rule: no fraud […] I think that the government has a role. And somebody has …

The operator of now-defunct Bitcoin (BTC) exchange BitFunder, Jon Montroll, has received a 14 months prison sentence following federal charges of obstruction of justice and securities fraud, finance and trading industry news outlet FinanceFeeds reported on July 12. The proceedings against Montroll began last year. In July 2018, Montroll pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, admitting that he provided false balance statements to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in an investigation of the fake 6,000 BTC BitFunder hack in 2013. The proceedings against Montroll ended on July 11, 2019, wherein Judge Richard M. Berman of the New York …