Bank of Russia recorded an increase in the number of crypto Ponzi schemes

In the first quarter of 2022, more than 58% out of the total number of identified schemes are related to digital assets, according to the Central Bank’s representative Valery Lyakh

05.05.2022 - 13:10

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What’s new? In the first quarter of 2022, out of the total number of Ponzi schemes detected in Russia, more than 58% were cryptocurrency-related. According to the Director of the Bank of Russia’s Department for Countering Misconduct, Valery Lyakh, amid financial uncertainty strategies based on investments in allegedly “digital instruments” have gained a new impetus for development. He spoke about this in an interview with TASS.

Information on the TASS website

What else does Lyakh say? According to him, scammers take advantage of the current information agenda by creating financial pyramid schemes. Lyakh added:

“For example, amid financial uncertainties, calls to “save money” in foreign jurisdictions are popular: to invest in a foreign project, in foreign securities. There have been such proposals before, but now scammers are framing them with sanctions topics.”

The director of the department added that restrictions related to international settlements have become a “thing” for scammers. Lyakh believes that they can persuade a person to transfer money to a personal account of an intermediary individual by a phone number.

What events happened before? At the end of March, the Federal Security Service (FSB) officers detained suspects in the organization of a crypto Ponzi scheme. The law enforcers estimated the preliminary amount of damage to be 1 billion Russian rubles. The participants of the pyramid were promised 500% per annum for investing in digital assets

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