fraud

According to CBC, a federal judge in Miami, USA, sentenced 20-year-old Canadian man Trenton Johnston to 25 months in prison. Previously, he admitted to participating in a money laundering conspiracy and surrendered approximately 3.8 million dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency.Johnston began his crimes in January 2024, impersonating Google technical support and representatives from cryptocurrency companies to trick victims into providing wallet access codes. In one case, he and an accomplice defrauded a victim in California of 185 bitcoins (worth about 13 million dollars at the time). He then used the stolen funds to purchase luxury items such as a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ, two BMWs, jewelry, and private jet rentals. Johnston has agreed to be deported back to Canada and is still facing drug possession charges in Florida.

The criminal case involving Aiden Pleterski, who claims to be the "King of Crypto" in Canada, related to a Ponzi scheme involving digital assets, will be submitted to the jury for deliberation after closing arguments this week. Presiding Judge Shaun Nakatsuru has given the jury final instructions, and the jury is set to begin deliberations on Thursday. Pleterski is accused of defrauding approximately $30 million from fans on social media between 2021 and 2022, and was charged with fraud in 2024, subsequently awaiting trial for over two years.In his closing arguments, Pleterski declared his innocence. He stated, "I am not guilty of these charges, which is why I am not pleading guilty. This would have been proven if I had not been forced to represent myself. That's all I have to say." Due to his choice to represent himself, he is acting on his own behalf in court. If convicted of fraud, he faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.In another criminal case, five men are charged with kidnapping and torturing Pleterski in 2022, some of whom are reportedly victims of his scheme. Defendant Deren Akyeam-Pong has pleaded guilty to nine charges and is awaiting sentencing. Pleterski is one of several figures in the crypto industry facing fraud charges; former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 and is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against 10 individuals and 1 entity. These targets are involved in North Korean IT workers defrauding U.S. companies, with the proceeds used for North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.The sanctioned Russian national Ilya Boykov has exchanged approximately 3.5 million dollars in cryptocurrency for the North Korean company Alis since 2024. The Russian national Vitold Obertas has completed nearly 2 million dollars in cryptocurrency exchanges for North Korean officials since January 2025.Also sanctioned is the entity FFTDC, controlled by North Korea and based in Russia, along with its 6 IT workers, who have generated over 750,000 dollars since 2025. Australia and the European Union have also taken similar sanction actions this month.

According to Bitcoin News monitoring, Electrum released version 4.8.3 on October 24, 2026, fixing a security vulnerability that had been used in real attacks.Malicious servers can present users with forged transactions and induce them to sign transactions that pay the attacker's address when users attempt to accelerate transactions with a replacement fee (RBF); attackers do not need to obtain the user's private key. Electrum stated that it has received two related reports, one of which involved a user losing Bitcoin after increasing the transaction fee, and advised users to update to version 4.8.3.

The U.S. prosecution has charged 6 members of a gang suspected of stealing from Madagascar NFT wallets. The FBI estimates that 74 victim wallets have lost at least $516,700.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a notice disclosing that it has received a large number of public inquiries regarding fraudulent activities involving counterfeit digital Hong Kong dollar projects. The related scam agreements claim to convert loans into digital Hong Kong dollar assets, deceiving the public into signing agreements. The Monetary Authority sternly clarifies that the related fraudulent agreements and lending projects have absolutely no connection with the Monetary Authority and emphasizes that it will not contact citizens regarding personal financial matters or conduct fund transfers.All institutions participating in the "Digital Hong Kong Dollar" pilot program and other sandbox programs under the Monetary Authority will not raise funds from the public or provide financial management and investment products in the name of the related programs. The Monetary Authority has reported the incident to the Hong Kong Police and reminds the public to verify relevant information through the Monetary Authority's official website. If personal information has been provided to suspicious websites or applications, or if there is a suspicion of being deceived, one should immediately contact the police or the Information Center of the Criminal Headquarters of the Hong Kong Police Force.

According to Tech in Asia, the Indian cryptocurrency trading platform CoinSwitch launched the SafeSwitch anti-fraud program on October 26, which aims to raise users' awareness of online fraud through a fraud identification quiz, website security check tools, and reporting guidelines.The program includes a fraud identification quiz with 10 questions, information about India's online fraud reporting hotline 1930, and tools to assist in checking websites. CoinSwitch emphasizes that the website check tools only provide additional safety references and do not guarantee absolute website security.

According to Bitcoin.com News, Timothy Wadsworth, a man from Rochester, New York, was sentenced to 51 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, and was ordered to pay approximately $810,000 in restitution.The U.S. Department of Justice stated that between March and May 2020, Wadsworth initiated 310 unauthorized payments totaling approximately $1.6736 million using account information provided by accomplices through the payment service provider Stripe, of which 116 transactions were successful, amounting to approximately $730,700. He then transferred some of the funds to bank accounts under his control and purchased Bitcoin through Coinbase, which he then transferred to his accomplices.

Chinese national Zheng Zhao was extradited from the Netherlands to the United States and appeared in court on October 23 in the Central District of California. He is suspected of participating in an investment fraud and money laundering case involving 174 American victims, with funds exceeding $36.9 million.The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that the fraudulent activities were operated by a scam center in Cambodia. Prosecutors claimed that over $36.9 million was transferred into an account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas controlled by accomplices, and then exchanged for the stablecoin USDT and transferred to a digital asset wallet in Cambodia. Eight other co-defendants have pleaded guilty; Zheng Zhao faces charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which could result in a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.

According to a notice from the U.S. Department of Justice, a Chinese citizen has been extradited for allegedly participating in a cryptocurrency fraud case targeting U.S. citizens, with the amount involved reaching millions of dollars. The man appeared in court for the first time after being extradited back to the U.S. from the Netherlands, where he is charged with participating in an international cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme.The scheme was carried out by a fraud operation located in Cambodia, with victims including 174 identified U.S. citizens. The man has been ordered to be detained; his formal arraignment is scheduled for November 30 at the federal district court in downtown Los Angeles.

Recently, the Qingshanqiao Police Station of the Xiangtan County Public Security Bureau in Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, with the support of the county bureau, went to Loudi and successfully dismantled a fraud den that used malicious links to steal virtual currency, arresting 3 criminal suspects.Upon investigation, on September 4, a local resident reported that after clicking on a strange link in a virtual currency QQ group, 6814 yuan worth of USDT was stolen from their account. Since August, three individuals, Zhou, Chen, and Liang, have been seeking illegal profits by obtaining malicious virus links through the Telegram app, specifically searching for virtual currency exchange groups in QQ and WeChat, sending malicious links in the groups, and waiting to steal the virtual currency from the accounts of those who clicked. Currently, all three suspects have been criminally detained in accordance with the law on suspicion of theft, and the case is under further investigation.

According to The Defiant, the UAE-led "Confrontation Ghost" operation has identified over $39 billion in funds and cryptocurrencies. The operation has arrested more than 960 people and raided 29 scam centers. The countries involved in the operation are advancing asset recovery efforts to reclaim the assets involved.

U.S. President Trump will emphasize his administration's actions against overseas cryptocurrency fraud at a cybercrime prevention event at the White House on Wednesday. According to Reuters citing White House officials, these overseas criminal networks lure Americans into participating in fraudulent cryptocurrency investments. Trump and cabinet members plan to point out that the government has shut down multiple fraudulent cryptocurrency investment websites and is working to close down online impersonation scams. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Todd Blanche are expected to attend.The event follows an executive order from March this year, where Trump instructed the Department of Justice to prioritize identifying and prosecuting cyber fraudsters, followed by a memorandum requiring the Department of Homeland Security to collaborate with private companies to monitor foreign criminal hacker organizations. FBI data shows that in 2025, over 1 million cyber fraud complaints were submitted by the American public, a 17% increase from 2024, with record losses. Cryptocurrency fraud accounted for more than half of the losses, with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center recording 181,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints, resulting in losses of $11.366 billion, with cryptocurrency investment fraud causing $7.2 billion in losses.Most of the fraud activities trace back to organized crime groups in Southeast Asia, involving Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, where criminals exploit trafficking victims as forced labor in scam operations. Americans aged 60 and above bear the heaviest losses, with cryptocurrency-related losses reaching $4.43 billion. Cryptocurrency ATM fraud caused losses of $389 million, a 58% increase from 2024; secondary scams targeting previous victims caused an additional $1.4 billion in losses. The FBI's "Operation Upgrade" notified 3,780 victims suffering from cryptocurrency investment fraud in 2025, estimated to recover $225.8 million.

According to AASTOCKS, the Hong Kong police stated on the social media platform Guardian that they received over 50 reports of investment fraud in the past week, involving losses exceeding 30 million Hong Kong dollars. One retired woman in her sixties met a man claiming to be interested in renting a house through a property trading platform, who recommended cryptocurrency investment as an investment expert.The man sent her links to fake investment websites and induced her to invest funds with promises of returns. Following his instructions, the woman went to a physical cryptocurrency exchange store 20 times to purchase USDT, which she then transferred to a designated wallet, ostensibly for investing in ETH. Initially, she was able to withdraw some funds successfully, but then continued to invest more. When she attempted to withdraw again, the man demanded payment of USDT worth approximately 7 million Hong Kong dollars as tax, at which point she realized she had been scammed, ultimately losing over 4.5 million Hong Kong dollars.

According to The Block, payment company Mastercard has launched the Stablecoin Security tool to screen for fraud and sanction risks in stablecoin payments.This tool is aimed at stablecoin payment scenarios, helping relevant institutions identify fraudulent activities and sanction compliance risks during transaction processing. Mastercard did not disclose more product parameters and launch scope in the summary of the report.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that authorities in Ghana and Nigeria arrested 28 people in an enforcement action against a West African scam network, which involved cryptocurrency investment fraud.The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) stated that the operation also uncovered 117 victims of human trafficking in Ghana, who are awaiting repatriation to Nigeria. Private sector partners identified over $11 million in funds that could be frozen.The operation, hosted by the NCA, brought together tech companies and law enforcement agencies, aiming to combat scam networks targeting citizens of the U.S., U.K., and other countries. The Department of Justice stated that this is the first joint operation focused on West Africa. Cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance, as well as blockchain analysis companies Chainalysis, Elliptic, and TRM Labs, were all involved.Coinbase stated that it assisted in tracking illegal funds, supporting asset freezes, and providing intelligence to investigators, identifying over 65 active scam victims and preventing over $415,000 in potential losses. TRM Labs claimed it uncovered a large-scale peer-to-peer money laundering network. In the Sasaabi region of Ghana, authorities arrested 19 people and seized 303 electronic devices; Nigeria arrested another 9 people. Meta reported that it has deleted over 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages, and groups, most of which targeted Americans and Britons through impersonation tactics. Law enforcement also received leads on over 30 suspected scam centers.

According to Chainalysis, one of the biggest victims in the theft incident involving the cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger was also a scammer, suffering a loss of over 60 BTC, worth approximately 4.8 million dollars, with funds coming from a task scam.In this scam, participants were paid to create fake sales and reviews for real products. Subsequently, a "negative balance" appeared, and participants were told that they had to invest their own funds to receive payment. On September 22, the mastermind behind the scam transferred the funds to three separate Ledger addresses. On October 9, the thieves emptied all three addresses, transferring the funds to the same wallet through a single transaction from each address. The receiving wallet has been reported to be involved with the stolen funds.

According to Decrypt, the Virtual Currency Unit of the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office in New York, in collaboration with the FBI, successfully dismantled a multinational cryptocurrency investment scam network targeting the Russian-speaking community across the United States, seizing and shutting down 112 servers and 241 associated website domains. The involved servers were primarily hosted in Eastern Europe and the United States, with the core infrastructure and IP nodes distributed in places like Ukraine.Forensic evidence from the servers also indicated that the scammers would strike again weeks later, disguising themselves as "asset recovery service providers" to conduct secondary harvesting of victims, with the total amount involved reaching tens of millions of dollars. The prosecution had previously shut down 400 associated domain names, and this time directly seized the underlying servers to completely deprive the gang of the ability to quickly set up websites and contact victims. Law enforcement has currently seized approximately $300,000 in stolen funds, and the recovery efforts are ongoing.

According to The Block, citing South Korean media Digital Asset, South Korean cryptocurrency influencer "Coin King" Jonbur Kim (original surname Park) was acquitted of fraud charges by the Southern District Court of Seoul. The case involved allegations of cryptocurrency fraud amounting to approximately 340 billion won (about 253 million USD).The court stated on Thursday that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to prove the relevant crimes. Jonbur Kim had previously been accused of participating in fraudulent issuance, listing, false disclosures, and price manipulation, with the tokens involved primarily including Podo Coin and Artube.

Cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase announced its participation in Tech Against Scams and is collaborating with the UK's National Crime Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice Scam Center Strike Force, and international law enforcement partners to launch a joint crackdown week in London from October 6 to 9, sharing intelligence in real-time and coordinating actions against West African criminal scam networks.Coinbase stated that the relevant scam networks operate across platforms, seeking potential victims through social media, establishing trust via instant messaging, and using digital infrastructure and financial services to transfer illicit funds. As law enforcement and the industry intensify their crackdown on Southeast Asian scam hubs, criminal networks are expanding to other regions, including West Africa. This operation is hosted by the UK's National Crime Agency, bringing together technology, telecommunications, and financial companies to target the infrastructure, accounts, and payment systems that support scams.Coinbase Vice President Leah Bressack: The earlier crackdown on Southeast Asian scam hubs this year proved that coordinated actions between the industry and law enforcement are effective; as criminal networks attempt to rebuild in Africa, Coinbase's global intelligence team is tracking funds, freezing assets, and sharing intelligence in real-time. The tactics targeted include fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scams, impersonating law enforcement officials, and using fake video calls to carry out "arrests" to pressure transfers. Coinbase stated it will continue to collaborate with Tech Against Scams and law enforcement partners.