Eddy Alexandre, the chief executive officer of the EminiFX cryptocurrency trading platform, was arrested by the FBI on suspicion of trade and computer fraud.
According to an official announcement from the US Department of Justice, Alexandre operated a fraudulent cryptocurrency trading and investment platform and managed to solicit $ 59 million in investments from hundreds of clients between September 2021 and May 2022.
False promises and luxury items
Alexandre allegedly made false promises by offering high return potential and specifically claiming that users of the platform would become millionaires in a few years if they invested $ 100.000.
Commenting on the case, US Attorney Damian Williams stated that "in reality, there was no such technology, as Alexandre would have invested very little of their money - most of which he lost - and transferred most of it. on his personal accounts to pay for luxury items for himself ".
FBI Deputy Director Michael J. Driscoll said:
“As noted, Alexandre solicited millions of dollars from unwitting investors to whom he 'guaranteed' weekly returns of 5% through his trading platform which used a new technology that he refused to disclose. Like many greedy actors who preceded him, he then used a significant portion of the solicited investor funds to purchase expensive luxuries for himself. "
Alexandre allegedly transferred at least $ 14,7 million worth of investor funds to his personal bank accounts, instead of investing it as promised. The announcement also revealed that he spent $ 155.000 in investor funds to buy a BMW car and $ 13.000 in car payments.
Cryptocurrency crime continues to proliferate
As previously reported, some users of the Web3 MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet were victims of a phishing attack, which affected several cryptocurrency websites. Among them, CoinGecko, DeFiPrime and DexTools.
Etherscan warned:
“🚨 We have received reports of phishing popups via a third party integration and are currently investigating.
Please be careful not to confirm the transactions that appear on the website. "
Last week the City of London police investigated "cryptocurrency mugging" in London, where victims allegedly lost thousands of pounds in cryptocurrencies.
Criminals targeted investments in cryptocurrencies managed on smartphones, attracting them to owners or applying physical force to gain access to accounts.
In March, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused brothers John and JonAtina Barksdale of a $ 124 million fraud scheme involving a digital token called “Ormeus Coin”. The official press release states that:
"[...] the defendants falsely claimed that Ormeus Coin was backed by one of the largest cryptocurrency mining operations in the world, even though they abandoned their mining operations in 2019 after generating less than $ 3 million in total revenue. of mining. As alleged, in several of these communications to investors, the defendants falsely claimed that Ormeus Coin had a $ 250 million cryptocurrency mining operation and that it was producing $ 5,4 to $ 8 million a month in revenue from. mining ".
Have you ever been the victim of fraudulent schemes? What do you think about cybercriminals targeting investors? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
