Know About These Top 10 Crypto Scam Stories of All Times
Learn about these top 10 crypto scam stories that would surely give you goosebumps.
With the advent of cryptocurrency, the world has always been divided into two halves, one declaring the crypto to be the next currency of the world and another calling the whole thing a big scam. These top 10 crypto scam stories will surely make you think twice before investing in it.
Gigi Brothers
Israeli brothers, Eli and Assaf Gigi were apprehended for an alleged crypto phishing scam. They’re alleged to have taken more than US$100 million in crypto, baiting investors on crypto trading forums, and sending them to phishing sites that mimicked popular cryptocurrency exchanges.
Kraken Hack
Kraken, a Bitcoin exchange, endured a flash crash that caused the currency to fall from US$8,400 USD to US$75 USD. The price quickly settled, but what emerged was that a hacker compromised the account of a client. The hacker took 1200 BTC, worth more than US$9 million at the time of writing. Ouch!
XRP Stolen from Github
More than US$10 million worth of Ripple (XRP) was left unprotected by GitHub clients. Giving cybercriminals had the opportunity to steal XRP from more than 100 ledger wallets. Investigations into how this could have happened are still ongoing, but so far more than 500,000 XRP have been recovered.
South Korean Ponzi Scheme
A ponzi scheme targeting investors new to cryptocurrency exchanges were uncovered in South Korea. More than 56,000 people were swindled out of their money, with the majority of investors in their 70s. The unlisted M-token that was used to bait them, was guaranteed to bring in more than 600% ROI.
Canada ICO Fraud
A couple from Canada are fighting claims that they raised more than US$30 million through ICO fraud. Their FUEL token would supposedly develop in utility and price – but nothing ever materialized. They then went on to appropriate investors’ assets for personal use and went on a multi-million dollar gambling bender.
Indian ICO Fraud
Amit Lakhanpal, the Founder of Money Trade Coin (MTC) is alleged to have knowingly run a fake ICO, defrauding investors out of a whopping US$71.6 million. Lakhanpal falsely inflated the price of the MTC token to investors, and despite the coin not being listed on any known exchanges, his scam worked! Until it didn’t.
Binance Hack
Possibly the most notorious scam on the list of the top 10 biggest crypto scams, is the Binance Hack. Binance, one of the world’s most popular crypto exchanges, had more than US$40 million worth of Bitcoin stolen in May 2019. This is incredibly unusual for a platform like Binance, and still the hackers took it one step further. Not only did they steal more than 7000 BTC, they also managed to reveal two-factor confirmation codes and API tokens – which could have potentially compromised accounts with incredibly high net-worths.
Sofia Illegal Trading
A group of fake binary options and crypto exchanges have been operating in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, with more than US$100 million worth of fake trades spreading across the platforms. Traders on Optionstars, XTraderFX, Cryptopoint, SafeMarkets, OptionstarsGlobal, and Goldenmarkets were all enticed by low fees, resulting in them being scammed out of around US$115 million.
Taiwan Scam
More than 1000 investors have been defrauded out of US$51 million in Taiwan. Investors were promised a 335% ROI but received 0% instead. The Taiwanese government has begun to implement changes to the Money Laundering Control Act, and the Terrorism Financing Prevention Act.
Mt. Gox Hack
On 19 June 2011, a fraudulent breach of the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange, caused the price of BTC to drop to US$0.01. A hacker allegedly used the credentials of an Mt. Gox auditor, to transfer a huge number of Bitcoin to himself. He then used the exchange’s software to sell them all, creating a massive “ask” order at any price.
