In the beginning, everything seemed to be in apple-pie order to many investors as the amounts corresponding to their names popped up on their dashboards after login. It also displayed the past three days’ returns on their investments and other relevant data. Interestingly, none of the ongoing probes into major Indian crypto scams has neared a conclusion.
These elaborate investment frauds exploit the allure of crypto’s innovative technology and the potential for substantial profits. Scammers take advantage of the lack of crypto education among many individuals around the world. Investors in the crypto market are well aware of the potential for high returns that stem from the innovative nature of blockchain technology, particularly in sectors poised for mainstream adoption in the near future. GainBitcoin is considered one of the biggest Ponzi schemes globally, with more than 8,000 investors losing their money. According to people close to Amit Bhardwaj, what the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the special investigation team (SIT) of Pune Police have unearthed is the tip of the iceberg.
- Like a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme relies on new investments to pay returns to earlier participants.
- PlusToken attracted over 3 million investors, a majority of which were located in China, South Korea and Japan.
- In this case, investors were supposed to earn daily interest of 1% while their RoI would double in 100 days.
- One of the 10 crypto Ponzi schemes that ravaged the digital asset market.
- Before delving into the crypto Ponzi scheme list, let’s first explore the defining characteristics that constitute a crypto Ponzi scheme.
What’s more, his exchange did not even allow MCAP to bitcoin transactions, as demanded by investors. Onecoin is perhaps the longest-running Ponzi scheme ever witnessed in the crypto industry. Founded by the Bulgarian fraudster Ruja Ignatova, aka Cryptoqueen, Onecoin managed to lure investors in their numbers between 2014 to 2019. During this period, the Ponzi scheme was said to have defrauded investors of $5.8 billion by marketing Onecoin as a “Bitcoin Killer” and the next hottest innovation in the crypto industry. Unregulated investment scams, in particular, are usually operated anonymously. They usually target traders and investors with little or no experience by promising fictitious investment opportunities.
Yet, the victims rarely hesitate to take the plunge as these ‘promo’ sessions unveil the immense potential of the Ponzi schemes – huge incomes and lavish lifestyles. The wealth chant pushes countless dreamers to gamble their money away, overlooking legal concerns or investment safety. Trusted by more than 50 million global users, OKX is known for being one of the fastest and most reliable crypto apps in the world. For more information on discount rates and how they are calculated, please visit OKX’s website.
Crypto Scams & INR 72,000 Cr+ Lost: Why India’s Probes Into Biggest Crypto Scams Have Failed
Although similar in some aspects, a pyramid scheme differs from a Ponzi scheme in its structure. Like a Ponzi scheme, a pyramid scheme relies on new investments to pay returns to earlier participants. A Ponzi scheme disguises itself as a legitimate venture, claiming to generate profits through services or product sales. On the other hand, pyramid schemes do not attribute the alleged profitability to any legitimate business activity. Instead, they focus solely on the inflow of new investments without a genuine revenue-generating mechanism. According to Surat CID, in charge of the probe, Darji asked each investor to buy a Regalcoin at $2 and get $100 on each token in a short span.
Dekado
Morris Coin targeted Indian investors, with Nishad K and his team promising daily returns and referral benefits. Investors were lured into depositing a minimum of INR 15,000, with the promise of a daily return of INR 270 or a 4.4x profit. The dekado coin scheme attracted approximately 1.1 million individuals, primarily from India. However, the Morris Coin affair took a bizarre turn when an ICO was announced, and a white paper was published, further fueling suspicions of fraudulent activities.
Investors had to purchase BCC tokens and lock them on the platform, with trading bots supposedly using the locked funds for trading. However, the scheme eventually collapsed, resulting in severe losses for participants. Complete cryptocurrency market coverage with live coin prices, charts and crypto market cap featuring coins on 750 exchanges. “These coins, often inspired by internet culture and humor, go beyond mere utility assets; they represent the collective spirit and shared interests of diverse crypto communities,” the post read. In early December, a sudden surge in the price of bonk helped spur volumes on Solana-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) ahead of Ethereum, the usual leader. Solana Saga phones sold out as they doled out BONK rewards to their owners, despite sales being moribund as recently as October.
Live Coin Watch
A red flag that we noticed is that they are withholding vital information to users. They could go bankrupt from one day to another since there are no banking information about them. Ether Trade Asia operated as a crypto trading platform, offering investors a daily return of 3% on their investments.
Dekado Coin Complaints
Ignatova marketed Onecoin as a potential “Bitcoin Killer” and a groundbreaking innovation within the crypto space. Within the world of cryptocurrency, despite its abundance of opportunities, it is imperative to exercise caution when approaching investments in this emerging market, as it is full of fraudulent digital currency scams. He changed the contract terms without notifying his investors and started paying them in pre-mined tokens called MCAP. These coins had negligible value and were not listed anywhere except on C-Cex, the crypto exchange owned by Bhardwaj.
The crypto was listed on a few exchanges, including CoinExchange.io, BTC-Alpha and Yobit.it, but its value nosedived from $70+ in October 2017 to $0.005 in 2019. According to its UK filings, Regalcoin Corporation, the company behind the coin, was dissolved in September 2019. The top crypto exchanges that have Dekado available for trading, ranked by 24h trading volume and the current price. Existing circulation, market capitalization, volume of transactions and more details dekado coin rate of Dekado.
Best exchanges to buy Dekado
In other cases where chargesheets have been filed, the accused are absconding. They got away after being granted bail,” said a Mumbai Police official earlier investigating one of the cases. India also requires a digital-age-ready judicial system that can speed up the procedure and take early cognisance of tech-powered financial irregularities to mitigate investors’ risks. Speed is of the essence here, and moving away from the traditional judiciary practices will give investigators more teeth while procedural rules and delays clip their wings.
The scam conducted most of its marketing campaign via the Chinese messaging app, WeChat, by enticing investors with the prospect of generating 10-30% monthly returns on investment. PlusToken attracted over 3 million investors, a majority of which were located in China, South Korea and Japan. The entire business model of the project centered around crypto literacy and a wallet service.
He also promised that the Regalcoin would earn better returns than the bitcoin, the poster boy of the crypto industry. Darji of Bitconnect ran the operations in India under an MLM scheme called Regalcoin https://cryptolisting.org/ Affiliate & Network Programme, where investors used to get 7%, 2% and 1% at level 1, level 2 and 3, respectively. Depending on the investment level, they earned a bonus of 5%, 3% and 2%, respectively.
The number of Indian visitors dipped drastically from 17.8 Mn in 2020 to 9.6 Mn in 2021, according to a Chainalysis report. The suspect websites most visited by Indian users in the past year included Coinpayu.com, adBTC.top, HackerTyper.net, Dualmine.com and Coingain.app. However, new names pop up every year with new hypes, casting more sophisticated scam nets far and wide. In a conversation with GainBitcoin founder Amit Bhardwaj (now deceased), some investors asked whether their money was safe.
