The cryptocurrency trade has attracted bold, daring risk-takers, all lured by the promise of wealth. Nonetheless, the skinny line between ambition and greed has led some down a darker path.
The trade has witnessed quite a few fraudsters orchestrating elaborate crypto scams, defrauding buyers of billions via Ponzi schemes, failed exchanges, and fraudulent coin choices. From fugitive masterminds to change operators turned criminals, the people behind these schemes have gained infamy for his or her audacity and deception.
Ruja Plamenova Ignatova
Ruja Plamenova Ignatova, often known as the “Cryptoqueen,” is on the middle of one of many largest crypto scams in historical past. Ignatova was born in Bulgaria and raised in Germany.
She graduated from Oxford College and initially pursued a profitable profession in finance. In 2014, she co-founded the cryptocurrency OneCoin with Karl Sebastian Greenwood. The operations had been based mostly in Sofia, Bulgaria.
OneCoin promised excessive returns for buyers. Ignatova’s gross sales pitch was persuasive.
She satisfied hundreds of thousands worldwide to spend money on OneCoin. It operated via a multi-level advertising and marketing (MLM) scheme.
She claimed that OneCoin can be a revolutionary cryptocurrency that might compete with Bitcoin (BTC).
“OneCoin is meant to be the Bitcoin killer. In two years, no one will discuss Bitcoin anymore,” she informed buyers.
In 2015, Ignatova revealed that OneCoin was formally coming into the US market. Nonetheless, the next yr, cracks began to look as buyers discovered it troublesome to promote their OneCoins and get better their preliminary investments.
It was later revealed that OneCoin was a Ponzi scheme with no verifiable blockchain behind it, defrauding buyers of over $4 billion globally. Authorized paperwork confirmed that Ignatova and Greenwood had been allegedly conscious from the beginning that the venture was a fraudulent enterprise.
“It won’t be [something] actually clear or that I usually work on and even could be pleased with (besides with you in personal after we make the cash) – however . . . I’m particularly good on this very borderline instances [sic], the place the issues turn into grey – and also you because the magic gross sales machine – and me as somebody who actually can work with numbers, authorized and again you up in {and professional} manner – we may actually make it huge – like MLM meets bitch of wall avenue ;-)” Ignatova wrote to Greenwood.
On October 12, 2017, Ignatova was charged with fraud and cash laundering. The authorities additionally issued a federal arrest warrant.
Nonetheless, she vanished shortly thereafter. Ignatova boarded a industrial flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, and has not been seen since.
The FBI has positioned Ignatova on its Ten Most Wished Fugitives listing and is providing as much as $5 million reward for info resulting in her seize. She additionally stays one in every of Europe’s most sought-after fugitives.
In the meantime, in December 2022, Greenwood pleaded responsible to wire fraud and cash laundering costs in reference to the scheme. Moreover, in April 2024, US District Choose Edgardo Ramos sentenced OneCoin’s former authorized chief, Irina Dilkinska, to 4 years in jail.
Regardless of intensive media protection and the huge scale of her fraud, Ignatova stays elusive in 2025.
Faruk Fatih Özer
Faruk Fatih Özer based Thodex, a Turkish cryptocurrency change that turned infamous for its huge crypto rip-off. Established in 2017, Thodex shortly grew to turn into one in every of Turkey’s largest crypto platforms.
In April 2021, the change abruptly shut down, with a message showing on the Thodex web site claiming the platform can be offline for 4 to 5 days. Nonetheless, this was the start of a serious disaster.
Over 400,000 customers discovered themselves unable to entry their accounts, with round $2 billion price of cryptocurrencies locked within the platform.
Following the closure, Fatih Özer fled to Albania. In the meantime, authorities arrested his sister Serap Özer, his brother Güven Özer, and 4 different senior staff. Furthermore, additionally they detained round 83 folks as a part of the investigation.
Özer’s disappearance sparked a manhunt. He was caught in Albania in 2022 and later extradited to Turkey in 2023. In September 2023, Fatih Özer, alongside along with his siblings, was sentenced to a mixed 11,196 years in jail.
Nonetheless, in January 2025, the twenty second Felony Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Courtroom of Justice annulled a part of the unique choice. The court docket acquitted 16 defendants of the cost of “certified fraud” as a result of a scarcity of proof. It additionally ordered the discharge of 4 defendants.
Nonetheless, not all defendants had been freed. The court docket launched Fatih Özer and his siblings from costs of “organizing and main a felony group,” however their detention continued on different costs.
Satish Kumbhani
Satish Kumbhani, the founding father of BitConnect, masterminded a worldwide Ponzi scheme that defrauded buyers of $2.4 billion between 2016 and 2018. The DOJ, referencing court docket paperwork, mentioned Kumbhani deceived buyers about BitConnect’s “Lending Program.”
He and his companions promoted BitConnect’s proprietary know-how, the “BitConnect Buying and selling Bot” and “Volatility Software program,” as instruments that might assure huge earnings by buying and selling on cryptocurrency market fluctuations.
Nonetheless, BitConnect was really a Ponzi scheme, utilizing cash from new buyers to pay earlier ones. Kumbhani shut down the Lending Program after a couple of yr.
He then informed his promoters to govern the BitConnect Coin (BCC) worth to make it appear like there was actual demand for it. Kumbhani and his companions additionally hid investor funds by mixing, biking, and exchanging them via BitConnect’s wallets and varied worldwide exchanges.
On September 1, 2021, the US Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) filed a lawsuit in opposition to BitConnect. The regulator alleged that BitConnect deceived retail buyers. Moreover, Glenn Arcaro, Head of BitConnect’s North American division, pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit wire fraud within the US District Courtroom.
The BitConnect founder was indicted in February 2022 and faces a number of costs. If discovered responsible on all costs, he may withstand 70 years in jail.
“Kumbhani is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodity worth manipulation, operation of an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise, and conspiracy to commit worldwide cash laundering,” the assertion learn.
In the meantime, in September 2022, the court docket sentenced Arcaro to 38 months in jail and ordered him to repay $17.6 million to victims from 40 nations.
The tales of Ruja Ignatova, Faruk Fatih Özer, and Satish Kumbhani illustrate the devastating affect of crypto scams, with billions misplaced and lives upended. These instances spotlight the necessity for higher regulatory oversight, investor training, and worldwide cooperation to fight fraud within the house.
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