The Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) has issued a warning against an alleged global scam scheme known as “Bitcoin Revolution,” according to an official document published today, Jan. 25. According to the Maltese regulator, the alleged crypto scam represents a typical get-rich-quick scheme, and operates through the website the-bitcoinrevolution.org and several other unnamed websites. The fraudulent entity also reportedly promotes its scheme by using advertising on unspecified social media platforms that redirects users to pages containing a number of prominent local personalities that claim to make large profits from crypto investments. The warning statement notes users are redirected to those …

The value of Ethereum (ETH) stolen via scams reached $36 million 2018, according to a report released by crypto analytics company Chainalysis on Jan. 23. According to the Chainalysis report, scams that occurred last year were reportedly more sophisticated, bigger and vastly more lucrative. Chainalysis also reports that Ethereum has “long been known as the cryptocurrency of choice for scams.” Chainalysis reports that the value of stolen funds more than doubled in 2018, compared to the $17 million in ETH obtained through scams in 2017. The increase in profits occurred despite the fact that the number of scams declined compared …

Following international police collaboration, a 36-year-old individual suspected of the theft of over $11 million in IOTA, as well as fraud and money laundering, has been arrested on Jan. 24. Europol published a statement detailing the investigation on the day of the arrest. The suspect was reportedly arrested by United Kingdom’s South East Regional Organised Crime Unit, together with the Hessen State Police in Germany, the UK’s National Crime Agency and Europol, following a search warrant carried out in Oxford, U.K. The operation that lead to the man’s arrest — and the seizure of several of his electronic devices — …

Following concerns that startup Haven Protocol was a “crypto exit scam,” an alleged member of its team reassured the community that the project was intact in a Twitter thread Jan. 21. Haven Protocol community members had raised the alarm over the intermittent silences and lack of code transparency from a core developer of anonymity-oriented altcoin Haven (XHV). According to one of the tweets in the thread from team member “Donjor” Jan. 21, the controversy was sparked by an intervention from a Haven marketing contributor in a thread on public chat channel Discord. The contributor, who goes by the moniker of …

Seven people who allegedly managed a fraudulent crypto investment scheme have been indicted in Taiwan, according to a report by English-language local media FocusTaiwan on Jan. 18. According to the report, citing local prosecutors, the defendants were charged with the violation of Taiwan's Banking and Multi-Level Marketing Supervision acts. The group was reportedly arrested on June 13 last year for allegedly operating a fraudulent Bitcoin (BTC) investment scheme. According to FocusTaiwan, the scheme promised investors yearly returns of up to 355 percent. Because of this promise — which reportedly has not been upheld since returns dwindled after April 24 — …

The Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) has added 23 unauthorized forex and cryptocurrency entities to its warning list on Jan. 14. Among the companies added to the list is Blonde Bear OÜ, also referred to as Black Parrot Ltd., which claims to be a forex and cryptocurrency exchange operator but reportedly operates in Spain without a license. The company, which operated on the trade111.com and tradex1.com domains, has also been flagged by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for operating in Poland without the required license. Another company added to the CNMV’s warning list is Dax300, also known as Brown …

South Africa’s national cricket organization briefly fell victim to scammers on Twitter and began offering a fake Bitcoin (BTC) lottery, Indian daily news outlet Indian Express reported on Jan. 14. Cricket South Africa (CSA), which has over 1 million followers, tweeted its alleged participation in the scheme in the early morning. Staff claimed the organization had begun a partnership with Luno, a United Kingdom-based cryptocurrency wallet, through which users could win a prize worth 20 BTC ($70,900). The now-deleted tweet included a Bitcoin address to which those wishing to be involved should send a 0.01 BTC, and was active for …

Cryptocurrency mining malware is responsible for less of the supply of altcoin Monero (XMR) in circulation than previously thought, new research published Jan. 3 claims. A joint effort by researchers at King’s College London and Carlos III University in Madrid, Spain, the study analyzed huge swathes of malware over a twelve-year period. “In this paper, we conduct the largest measurement of crypto-mining malware to date, analyzing approximately 4.4 million malware samples (1 million malicious miners),” authors Sergio Pastrana and Guillermo Suarez-Tangil confirm. According to their calculations, Monero, which continues to be a favorite target for malicious mining operations, has an …

2018 will long be remembered as the start of a significant cryptocurrency bear market, but the declining market still provided opportunities for scam artists to snag unwary investors. Given that 2017 was a breakout year for Bitcoin (BTC) and the likes, investors were clamoring to enter the fray as the price of cryptocurrencies skyrocketed toward the end of the year. With such a positive environment, businesses and developers looked to leverage blockchain technology for new projects, leading to a boom of new initial coin offerings (ICO) that has collectively raised more than $20 billion since the beginning of 2017. This …

The Federal Court of Australia has imposed a travel ban and frozen the funds of John Bigatton, a promoter of reported $2.6 billion Ponzi scheme Bitconnect, daily newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald reports on Jan. 5. Bigatton is reportedly listed as a director and shareholder of BitConnect International Plc and the only representative of Bitconnect Australia. Bigatton’s wife, Madeline Bigatton, is reportedly the sole director and shareholder of JB’s Investment Management, a company whose assets have been frozen, that is believed to be linked to Mr. Bigatton. According to the aforementioned article, Mrs. Bigatton went missing in March and has …

Indian police have arrested an associate of a group accused of conducting a crypto scam involving 5 billion rupees (about $71.6 million), English-language local media The Indian Express reports Jan. 7. This is the fourth arrest of the ongoing case and reportedly occurred a year after Thane police uncovered the alleged scam in Mumbai. The man, Rohit Kumar, has reportedly been arrested by Delhi police acting on a complaint from a Kanpur resident. According to the police, Amit Lakhanpal — the man who launched the allegedly scam cryptocurrency — is the CEO of a real estate firm. The police also …

A Hong Kong-based entrepreneur has been accused of duping numerous investors in a cryptocurrency mining hardware investment scheme. A local English-language newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported the news Jan. 6. The Democratic Party — currently the second-largest political party in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong — has reportedly received over 20 complaints since October 2018 in regard to the scheme, allegedly spearheaded by a 24-year old businessman named Wong Ching-kit. Four of those affected, who are reported to have suffered losses of between HK$20,000 and HK$1 million ($2,500 - $127,600) each — a combined loss of about …