The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission had a message for conference goers at Consensus 2019: “Be on the lookout for virtual currency fraud” and if you see it, let us know.
Several major cryptocurrency traders, including representatives from Galaxy Digital Holdings and Cumberland DRW, reportedly met to discuss an industry-wide blacklist of suspicious actors to stem the tide of scams and theft in the space.
“To avoid the fraud and scam detection systems employed by banks, scammers are now increasingly asking for payment via unusual payment methods such as gift cards and cryptocurrencies.”
Sensing a rise in crypto-related scams and fraudulent investment schemes, the SEC and the CFTC have issued a joint warning to investors, encouraging them to take a more thorough approach to verifying potential investments in the space.
According to a report by research and risk assessment firm Digital Shadows, this scam was committed through a wide array of “sextortion” blackmail strategies, which included the weaponization of emails.
Several of South Korea’s top cryptocurrency exchanges have found themselves in hot water, with executives at a couple of exchanges facing criminal charges and jail time.
The CFTC has fined Joseph Kim for perpetrating a fraudulent cryptocurrency trading scheme. The same day, a District Court in the Northern District of Illinois sentenced Kim to 15 months on wire fraud charges.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released a report detailing actions taken against fraudulent ICOs and financial ventures, and, indeed, the year has been wrought with cases.
The recently planned initial coin offering by Blockvest LLC and its founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold III falsely advertised that the token sale was approved by the SEC.
