Brazilian Congressman Aureo Ribeiro, author of a bill that purports to regulate the Brazilian crypto market, requested the opening of a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (PCI) to investigate crypto-related fraud in Brazil. Cointelegraph got access to a document that asks for a deep investigatigation into companies like Atlas Quantum (and CEO Rodrigo Marques), Zero10, and Trader Group, among others. "Increasing interest in cryptocurrency transactions has been accompanied by a proliferation of fraud,” the document reads. “The lack of regulation and vigilance combined with high levels of abstraction, anonymity, cross-border operations, and other peculiarities inherent to the crypto market shows potential risks …

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced the filing of a civil enforcement action against Nevada-based Circle Society. Defendants guaranteed investors 300% return On Oct. 16, the CFTC announced that it was charging Circle Society and its owner, David Gilbert Saffron, with “fraudulent solicitation, misappropriation, and registration violations relating to an $11 million binary options scheme.” According to the charges, the defendants misappropriated at least $11 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and U.S. dollars from individuals in the United States to “trade off-exchange binary options on foreign currencies and cryptocurrency pairs, among other things.” CFTC Chairman Heath …

Glasgow-based Jen McAdam claims supporters of the alleged OneCoin pyramid scheme are sending her death threats, mainly through Facebook. Death threats reported to the police On Oct. 14, the BBC wrote that Jen McAdam, a duped OneCoin digital currency investor, reported a slew of messages she received, threatening her with death and violence, to the police in Scotland. McAdam claims that the threats are part of a coordinated attack by OneCoin supporters, adding: "It is horrible, the abuse is vile and the threats feel very real to me, I'm always looking over my shoulder now. It is taking its toll …

Litecoin (LTC) and other alts are becoming increasingly prevalent among crypto “sextortionists” since they allow to avoid detection more easily, a new research says. According to cybersecurity firm Cofense’s new report published on Oct. 8, malicious actors are gradually starting to shift their focus from Bitcoin (BTC) to specifically avoid detection by specialized email filters. The report states: “As enterprises began writing detection rules to block those emails, threat actors modified the text by replacing it with an image, which prevented key words from being identified by Secure Email Gateways (SEGs). The bitcoin address was left as a plain text …

Bank of Ireland (BOI) executives have backed out of the testimony before the United States Government in the criminal proceedings regarding a $400 million worth money laundering scheme through cryptocurrency scam OneCoin. No testimony on voluntary basis As fintech-focused news outlet FinanceFeed reported on Oct. 11, the U.S. Government filed a Letter with the Court on Oct. 10, in which it clarified that over the past week it had tried to get voluntary witness testimony in Ireland. However, the witnesses changed their stance toward the prospect of testifying and would now testify only in response to compulsory process under the …

Although the crypto industry has long been touted as the solution to some of the longest-running issues in the global economy, there’s one problem it has been unable to shake off so far: fraud. Scams have been in operation for centuries — from counterfeited versions of luxury products, to Ponzi schemes that have collapsed, leaving hard-working consumers out of pocket to the tune of billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the growth in awareness and demand for digital assets has seen sophisticated fraudsters turn their attention to duping those who may be inexperienced when shopping around for crypto. Why are there so …

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the United Kingdom’s primary financial regulator, has seen a 74% rise in crypto-related investigations in 2019 so far. A local law firm reveals the data According to data from London-based law firm Pinsent Masons, the number of the FCA’s investigations into cryptocurrency businesses has surged from 50 cases in 2018 to 87 cases in 2019, according to a Financial Times report on Oct. 7. The outlet notes that this number includes both early stage scrutiny and extensive enforcement investigations. Crypto can benefit from increased scrutiny David Heffron, a partner at Pinsent Masons, stated that the …

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has ordered purported cryptocurrency company Longfin to pay a total of $6,755,848 million in penalties. Falsely obtained qualification for Regulation A+ offering On Sept. 30, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that a New York federal court entered a default ruling against the fintech company for “fraudulent public offering and falsifying revenue from sham commodities transactions.” According to the SEC, Longfin and its CEO Venkata S. Meenavalli falsely obtained qualification for a Regulation A+ offering by claiming that the blockchain-powered firm was operating within the U.S. However, …

The biggest Ethereum contract in the industry, dubbed FairWin, is allegedly putting user funds at risk and continues to guzzle a major amount of gas on the network. Multiple crypto social media users have been analyzing what they believe to be the fastest-growing Ponzi scheme on Ethereum. On Sept. 27, blockchain developer Philippe Castonguay warned: “The http://FairWin.me Ponzi Scheme contains critical vulnerabilities that put all funds at risk. Spread knowledge (especially in Asia) Users need to withdraw their funds and stop interacting with the contract ASAP.” Crypto community sleuths at work A detailed Dune dashboard has been collated by security …

Fraudulent advertisements have reportedly begun circulating Facebook offering to join the Telegram Open Network (TON) investment platform. As Russian news outlet Kommersant reported on Sept. 20, ads promoting the so called “Successful Investor” account appeared on Facebook. Once clicked, the ad leads to a website disguised as Russian economics and technology media outlet RBC, where a publication — which looks like an investigation article — has built-in links to a site with a video featuring a “unique scheme” of earnings and a form for registration supposedly for the TON platform. After users divulge their email address and telephone number, the …

Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange and alleged pyramid scheme Atlas Quantum has rejected court deadlines to resolve its delayed Bitcoin (BTC) withdrawals. Atlas Quantum may constitute a financial pyramid As Cointelegraph Brasil reported on Sept. 17, the Federal Court of Brazil ruled that the exchange's current activities may constitute a financial pyramid. It therefore decided to immediately freeze the company’s assets and bank accounts and give the company 48 hours to resolve outstanding accounts. In a Sept. 18 response to the court's ruling and deadline, Atlas Quantum said there is no requirement to resolve the problem of late withdrawals by any given …

Updated: Sept. 12, 11:30 PM UTC: Upon contacting the lawyers in the case, Cointelegraph has clarified that Coinbase had not settled in the case, but rather agreed to facilitate a transfer of funds from a hacker to the hacking victim. The article has been corrected accordingly. The United Kingdom arm of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has agreed to transfer lost Bitcoin to the victim of an email phishing attack (BTC) after a court order to reveal the hacker’s identity. Stolen Bitcoin diverted to Coinbase On Sept. 10, legal news site Law360 reported that Coinbase U.K. had agreed to transfer the 60 …