Ponzi schemes attract Russians by mentioning cryptocurrencies

The Director of the Department for Combating Unfair Practices stated that it is worth using the services of companies that have a license from the Bank of Russia

16.02.2022 - 14:15

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1 min

What’s new? In 2021, the Bank of Russia stopped the activities of 871 Ponzi schemes, four times more than the year before. According to Valery Lyakh, Director of the Bank of Russia’s Department for Combating Unfair Practices, 80% of them are “internet projects that help to invest in cryptocurrencies.” The total number of companies and projects with signs of illegal activity was 2679. The regulator stated that this number is 73% higher than in 2020.

Information on the Russian Central Bank’s website

What does Lyakh say? He urges investors to carefully select and analyze the projects they intend to invest in. The Director of the Department for Combating Unfair Practices emphasized that it is worth using the services of companies that have a license from the Bank of Russia. He added:

“One of the aspects of the problems of cryptocurrencies, the sheer number of them, that is the ability for fraudsters to issue them virtually in their garage. Some of the fraudulent cryptocurrency stories in the past literally advertised to install a program on your phone that would allegedly generate coins and you would be able to sell them on some exchange, fake on a fake.”

What had happened before? In 2021, the Bank of Russia proposed an initiative to restrict access to more than 3000 websites of illegal projects and Ponzi schemes. Most of the illegal participants of the securities markets offered the forex dealers’ services or called for investments in digital assets to multiply profits. Some posed as foreign brokers.

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