Fraudulent group of crypto coaches wanted in Russia

12 defendants in the case have already been detained by law enforcement agencies

15.05.2022 - 07:00

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What’s new? The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan has issued a wanted notice for four people involved in a fraudulent group of crypto coaches. From February 2017 to October 2021, the criminals engaged in fraud under the guise of learning to trade on crypto exchanges. During this time, they managed to fraudulently earn 53 million Russian rubles (RUB). 12 of the 16 suspects have already been detained by law enforcement agencies.

Press release of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan

Details of the case. More than 80 people were affected by the attackers. The criminals registered three firms for financial literacy training, organization of trading on the Forex stock market and cryptocurrency exchanges make it more convincing. The criminal group rented three offices in Kazan.

Currently, a criminal case has been initiated under two articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: fraud (Article 159) and organization of a criminal community (Article 210).

What happened before? In March, the FSB officers detained the organizers of Yusra Global, a crypto Ponzi scheme, which was organized in August 2019. According to the investigation, the total damage from the actions of the attackers amounted to about 1 billion RUB. The participants of the pyramid were promised 500% per annum for investing in digital assets.

The Bank of Russia reported that in the first quarter of 2022, out of the total number of Ponzi schemes detected in the country, more than 58% were cryptocurrency-related. According to the regulator’s official, amid financial uncertainty strategies based on investments in allegedly “digital instruments” have gained a new impetus for development.

Russia also opened its first criminal case on the embezzlement of crypto exchange assets. One of the platform’s owners is suspected of stealing funds from the platform’s users. The man was detained in the Moscow region and a suitcase with more than 190 million RUB in cash was found in his possession.

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