A couple of years back, the term “exit scam” became synonymous with the crypto industry. This was at a time when the market (at large) was replete with a number of cash grab ventures that looked great on paper but had little to no substantive value to back them up. In its most basic sense, an exit scam can be thought of as a fraudulent scheme wherein the organizers of an initial coin offering (ICO) or a similar fundraising avenue disappear with their investors' funds after acquiring a sizeable sum of money. In this regard, during November 2017 — a …

The German-speaking world continues to see lots of developments in the crypto industry, with the German government clarifying proposed regulations, Switzerland adding a new blockchain hub, while Bitcoin (BTC)-scammers are using Austrian celebrities in fake crypto ads. Here is the past week of crypto and blockchain news in review, as originally reported by Cointelegraph auf Deutsch. German government explains proposed regulations for crypto wallets and exchanges Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reported on Sept. 3, that, in reply to a request by the Free Democratic Party, the German Federal Government announced further details on planned regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers. …

Four out of the first five results presented when querying Google for a “bitcoin qr generator” lead to scam websites. The findings Cryptocurrency wallet ZenGo wrote the findings in a blog post published on Aug. 29. Reportedly, when researching prior to implementing QR Code support in their wallet, ZenGo learned of the prevalence of scam QR Code generators. The company explains how the alleged scam works: “These sites generate a QR code that encodes an address controlled by the scammers, instead of the one requested by the user, thus directing all payments for this QR code to the scammers.” QR …

Whale Alert and BitcoinAbuse are teaming up to fight crypto crimes together. Fighting scammers On Sept. 3, Whale Alert, a service dedicated to tracking large cryptocurrency transactions, announced that it will start collaborating with BitcoinAbuse to better fight cryptocurrency-related crimes. BitcoinAbuse is a public database of Bitcoin (BTC) addresses used by hackers and criminals. Whale Alert went on to say: “We will now report transactions made to scammers and keep track of their assets. You can help make crypto safer by reporting scams, black markets and hacks on the website BitcoinAbuse.com.” Whale Alert announces Version 2.0 Earlier today, Whale Alert …

This week saw major expansion of crypto payments in Brazil, new standards freeing Bitcoin from Portuguese taxes, and the allegedly fraudulent Grupo Bitcoin Banco’s refusal to pay clients their deposited funds. Brazil's central bank adopts IMF guidelines Brazil’s central bank announced that it would classify cryptocurrencies according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) guidelines on Aug. 26. With the new classification under IMF standards, traded cryptocurrencies will be classified as non-financial products and as such, will be counted as goods on the central bank’s balance sheet. Cointelegraph Brasil reported that the classification of cryptocurrencies as a good is significant, as recognition …

A Canadian Bitcoin (BTC) educator has scammed a crypto scammer and subsequently donated the money to charity. As the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Aug. 7, Ben Perrin — a YouTuber who runs an education channel about cryptocurrencies and a marketing director at a Bitcoin exchange — received a scam message offering an investment scheme that would supposedly double his Bitcoin investment every 24 hours. Perrin told CBC News: "I've come across a lot of these people before, they make ridiculous claims. In this case, every 24 hours, they guaranteed me a doubling of my Bitcoin, and said that if …

Despite all of the bad press that the digital asset industry continues to receive on an almost daily basis, it appears as though the overall sentiment of the online communities in regard to this burgeoning domain is still pretty positive. For example, Comparitech — a research firm that provides its consumers with a host of specialized data that allows one to make more informed decisions — recently used a machine learning-based analysis tool to study more than 48K Reddit posts to determine which cryptocurrencies were viewed most favorably by the masses. Not only that, the study also took into consideration …

Scam letters purporting to be from the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are trying con cryptocurrency taxpayers and others out of their funds. According to a Forbes report published on Aug. 5, bogus letters are attempting to capitalize on the public’s lack of familiarity with legitimate IRS correspondence and soliciting payments by using threats of enforcement action against them, among other tactics. F is for fake Among the strategies used by the IRS scammers, some letters claim that a warrant has been claimed against the recipient due to their unpaid tax obligations. Failure to make a payment immediately, they …

Cybercriminals earned $1.2 million in Bitcoin (BTC) through “sextortion” and bomb threat scams in the last 12 months, cybersecurity company Symantec reports on July 30. In sextortion scams, the scammers send victims emails that include an old password in the subject line, claiming the device is compromised. The message further states that the scammer is in possession of a photo or video of the victim looking at pornography websites, ostensibly obtained through a hacked webcam. In other cases, the author of the email claims to be a member of law enforcement who found child pornography on the receiver’s device. The …

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 …

An angry mob in Ladysmith, South Africa has reportedly torched the residence of Sphelele Mbatha, known as Sgumza, a manager of alleged crypto Ponzi scheme Bitcoin Wallet. The mob was likely a collection of victims who lost money through Bitcoin Wallet, according to a report by local newspaper Ladysmith Gazette on July 10. The local police have been investigating an unnamed Ponzi Scheme in Ladysmith, as reported by major South African news site IOL. According to the report, however, Bitcoin Wallet minimally appears to have made get-rich-quick promises to prospective investors. An unnamed community member reportedly told the publication that …

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of India has arrested Vijay Prajapati, Dhiraj Patel, Kamruddin Syed, and Ashiq Shaikh, the alleged creators of the cryptocurrency KBC Coin, according to a report by The Times of India on July 4. As per the report, the CID argues that KBC is a Ponzi Scheme. KBC reportedly launched 6 months ago, and its price has not moved since. KBC coins were reportedly issued at 10 paisas apiece, with the promise that they would skyrocket in value to 10 rupees in a short time ⁠— a 100-fold return on investment. According to a CID member, …