Top 20 Crypto Scams & Frauds International News
2025-11-12 02:24:57
- Chinese 'Cryptoqueen' Zhimin Qian was jailed for 11 years in the UK for masterminding a $5.5 billion (£5bn) Bitcoin scam that defrauded 128,000 victims.
- Source: https://www.newsnow.com/us/Business/Cryptocurrencies/Crypto+Scams
- European authorities arrested nine individuals in a coordinated operation across Cyprus, Spain, and Germany, dismantling a crypto money laundering network that stole over €600 million ($689 million) from hundreds of victims.
- Source: https://decrypt.co/347434/eu-arrests-nine-in-connection-with-689m-crypto-scam-network
- The US government is pursuing the forfeiture of $14 billion to $15 billion in Bitcoin tied to a Cambodia-based company (Prince Group) and forced-labor "pig butchering" crypto scam operations.
- Source: https://crypto.news/us-seizes-14b-in-bitcoin-tied-to-scams-run-by-cambodias-prince-group/
- An investigation tied a Hyperliquid whale controlling over 100,000 BTC to Garrett Jin, the former BitForex CEO whose exchange collapsed amid fraud probes.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/tags/fraud
- The founder of EminiFX, Eddy Alexandre, was ruled to pay $228 million after running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/tags/fraud
- Taiwanese prosecutors indicted 14 people accused of orchestrating the country’s largest money laundering case involving cryptocurrency, totaling $72 million and affecting 1,500 victims.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/tags/fraud
- Tether, Binance, Chainalysis, and OKX collaborated with APAC authorities to take down a multi-million-dollar pig butchering crypto scam, aiding in a $47 million crackdown.
- Source: https://crypto.news/tether-binance-chainalysis-aid-47m-pig-butchering-crackdown-in-apac/
- Crypto scammers ran a bribery network targeting employees of the social media platform X (Twitter) to reinstate suspended accounts.
- Source: https://crypto.news/crypto-scammers-tried-to-bribe-x-employees-to-reinstate-suspended-accounts/
- The US Justice Department announced the recovery of over $225 million in cryptocurrency stolen from Americans as part of a global "cryptocurrency confidence" scam, marking the largest seizure of its kind.
- Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/cryptocurrency-scam-doj-recovery-b2772812.html
- Ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is set to begin a 12-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to making false statements about the platform’s Earn Program.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/tags/fraud
- The DC attorney general sued Athena Bitcoin over alleged undisclosed fees and insufficient safeguards to prevent fraud and scams.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/tags/fraud
- A deepfake video impersonating Nvidia's CEO was livestreamed on YouTube to promote a crypto scam, attracting thousands of viewers.
- Source: https://www.newsnow.com/us/Business/Cryptocurrencies/Crypto+Scams
- The centralized exchange BingX suffered a $44 million breach after hackers bypassed security systems, possibly linked to the Lazarus Group.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/crypto-hacks-and-scams
- The Penpie platform lost $27 million after an attacker exploited a reentrancy protection flaw in the smart contract's reward system.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/crypto-hacks-and-scams
- Russian authorities arrested over 100 people connected to the Cryptex crypto exchange, which was involved in laundering millions through a network of money mules.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/crypto-hacks-and-scams
- The decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol BaseBros Fi executed a rug pull, draining $130,000 from user deposits before developers deleted social media accounts.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/crypto-hacks-and-scams
- The official X account for Decentraland was hijacked, and hackers promoted a fake MANA token airdrop, tricking users into connecting their wallets to a fraudulent site.
- Source: https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/crypto-hacks-and-scams
- ZKasino began issuing partial ETH refunds following a $33 million scam.
- Source: https://www.newsnow.com/us/Business/Cryptocurrencies/Crypto+Scams
- A Singapore woman lost $120,000 to a romance crypto scammer.
- Source: https://www.newsnow.com/us/Business/Cryptocurrencies/Crypto+Scams
- A federal prosecutor sued a Bitcoin ATM operator over its alleged role in facilitating crypto scams, following reports of millions lost by US pensioners.
- Source: https://www.newsnow.com/us/Business/Cryptocurrencies/Crypto+Scams