In the identical approach that the adoption of cryptocurrencies elevated worldwide, so did the Ponzi schemes and different frauds associated to the crypto ecosystem. OneCoin is likely one of the most blatant examples; however Europol is concentrated on closing the case and put its promoters behind bars —regardless of how lengthy it takes.
On Could 11, Europol added Ruja Ignatova, founding father of the OneCoin Ponzi scheme, to its checklist of Europe’s most wished fugitives, providing a reward of as much as €5,000 to anybody who helps to trace her whereabouts.
As per Europol information, Ignatova is needed for fraud-related crimes which have affected folks’s monetary pursuits within the European Union.
Ignatova Raised Over €5 Billion With OneCoin
Ignatova is suspected of driving the Ponzi scheme behind the so-called cryptocurrency “OneCoin,” which raised roughly €5 billion by the tip of 2007 from buyers in additional than 170 international locations.
Now fugitive, Ignatova launched the “OneCoin” mission in mid-2014, promoting it to buyers as the longer term “Bitcoin Killer”; nevertheless, as has occurred with many Ponzi schemes, like Arbistar or Bitconnect, when Ignatova felt in peril, she escaped, taking billions of {dollars} together with her.
In December 2016, the Italian Antitrust Authority issued an injunction in opposition to the corporate One Community Companies Ltd [OneCoin], describing its actions as an “unlawful pyramid gross sales system.” Nevertheless, it was solely in 2017 when the corporate’s accounts in numerous components of the world had been frozen.
On The Run With €1 Billion
In keeping with Europol, the whereabouts of Ignatova have been unknown since October 25, 2017. Allegedly, this occurred after she knew the US Authorities was investigating her. She disappeared shortly after that, leaving her brother Konstantin Ignatov (who was arrested in 2019) accountable for the mission.
As well as, Europol mentioned that the losses brought on by OneCoin around the globe quantity to a number of billions of {dollars}, including that Ignatova and her companions might probably be armed and that anybody keen to collaborate with the authorities must be cautious.
“The fraud-related loss established to date is within the higher double-digit million vary. The loss brought about on a world scale in all probability quantities to a number of billion USD.”
How Did “OneCoin” Work?
Onecoin labored based mostly on promoting academic supplies or bundles at 100 to 118,000 euros on cryptocurrency buying and selling. The bundles included “tokens” by way of which buyers might “mine” Onecoins.
Nevertheless, the mined “cash” weren’t accepted by any change exterior the one provided by the corporate referred to as Xcoinx, which raised alarms in the neighborhood and ended up breaking the entire Ponzi scheme that they had been operating for years.
Xcoinx didn’t enable the change of onecoins to some other foreign money. Ignatova’s fortune has not been sized or recovered.
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