ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, securities regulators in Alberta and New Brunswick, Canada, have warned that crypto scammers are exploiting trade war panic by using fake news articles and images of government figures to profit.The Alberta Securities Commission stated in a warning on March 7 that a crypto investment scam named "CanCap" has been impersonating news articles from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and falsely claiming endorsement from then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The regulator said, "The false articles claim that the Prime Minister is responding to U.S. tariffs and supports an investment plan involving digital currency."The New Brunswick Financial and Consumer Services Commission also warned on March 5 that CanCap used fake news articles claiming that New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt supports the platform, including fabricated interview records with Holt and altered photos with CBC.Regulators noted that scammers are increasingly exploiting current events to prey on the fears of potential victims and are using artificial intelligence to forge endorsements and generate content to make the scams appear legitimate.They added that scammers can quickly change the names and appearances of their schemes, having already used names like "CanCentra" and "Immediate Flectinium," linking them to at least six other different domain websites.

ChainCatcher news, according to NetEase Qingliu Studio, Wang Shuiming, a native of Anxi, Fujian, who was arrested in connection with Singapore's largest money laundering case, has been captured in Montenegro and will be extradited back to China. Wang Shuiming's partner, Su Weiyi, has been confirmed as the mastermind behind the Hong Kong cryptocurrency platform scam AAX, and was arrested by Hong Kong police in July 2024.In November 2022, Atom Asset Exchange suddenly became unable to process withdrawals and subsequently collapsed, with Su Weiyi absconding with 16.74 million Hong Kong dollars (approximately 15.675 million RMB). In July 2024, Su Weiyi was arrested by Hong Kong police. It is worth mentioning that Su Weiyi co-owns other companies with other partners, who are linked to the convicted former Filipino mayor Alice Guo (Guo Huaping).On August 15, 2023, over 400 Singaporean police launched a raid, successfully cracking down on the largest money laundering case in Singapore's history, involving an amount of 3 billion Singapore dollars (approximately 16 billion RMB). The Singapore police arrested 10 suspects on the spot. These suspects, aged between 31 and 44, are all originally from Fujian and are referred to by outsiders as the "Fujian Gang." They held passports from multiple countries and used forged documents, shell companies, and cryptocurrencies to "clean" the proceeds from illegal gambling and fraud in Southeast Asia, investing in high-end assets in Singapore and overseas.According to the investigation results of the Singapore police, Wang Shuiming also possesses substantial assets outside of Singapore. Domestically, Wang Shuiming's company has an investment amount of up to 32 million RMB; he owns a factory worth several million RMB; he has two apartments in Xiamen worth a total of 20 million RMB; and there is a bank account in Hong Kong under Wang Shuiming with a deposit of 2 million Hong Kong dollars and cryptocurrencies valued at 110,000 USD.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin News, the Central Bureau of Investigation in India is conducting a large-scale investigation into the GainBitcoin cryptocurrency scam, raiding over 60 locations across India, with the case involving approximately $75.8 million.GainBitcoin was a Ponzi scheme initiated by Amit Bhardwaj (deceased) and his brother Ajay Bhardwaj in 2015, promising investors a monthly return of 10% in Bitcoin through "cloud mining" contracts for a period of 18 months. After starting to collapse in 2017, the payment method was switched from Bitcoin to a lower-value internal token, MCAP.

According to ChainCatcher news reported by Decrypt, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois has proposed the "Cryptocurrency ATM Anti-Fraud Act," aimed at curbing the growing problem of cryptocurrency ATM scams. The bill proposes to set a daily transaction limit of $2,000 and a $10,000 limit within 14 days for new users, and requires operators to directly contact and verify users when transactions exceed $500 to prevent fraud. Additionally, the bill stipulates that operators must provide full refunds to victims of fraud reported within 30 days.Durbin emphasized that the bill is a "common-sense safeguard" to prevent scams and protect the financial security of the elderly. According to data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), losses from scams involving cryptocurrency ATMs have exceeded $110 million in 2023, nearly a tenfold increase compared to 2020.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official website of the U.S. Department of Justice, Brazilian man Douver T. Braga has been extradited from Switzerland to the United States for his involvement in a $290 million Bitcoin Ponzi scheme and appeared in federal court in Seattle.He is charged with 12 counts of wire fraud and 1 count of conspiracy to commit fraud, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. The Trade Coin Club (TCC) operated by Braga claimed to profit using "advanced algorithms," but it was actually a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 82,000 Bitcoins, with at least $50 million flowing directly into personal accounts.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Økokrim) has charged four men this week, accusing them of defrauding 963 million Norwegian kroner (approximately 86.5 million USD) through a fraudulent investment scheme between 2015 and 2018. The scam gang attracted investors with cryptocurrencies such as OctaCoin, NanoCoin, and Ormeus Coin, promising high returns but making no real investments.Victims are spread across Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and China, who invested their funds into projects named Crypto888 Club, Octa Partners, and Nano Club. These brands actually belonged to the same Ponzi scheme, with Octa Partners rebranding to Nano Club after its collapse, then becoming Crypto888, and finally renaming to Nano Crowd, continuously defrauding investors.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar has been sued for allegedly operating a cryptocurrency mining Ponzi scheme through the Profit Connect project, facing up to 330 years in prison.It is reported that Kovar promised investors that his platform offered "AI-driven" cryptocurrency mining services and claimed to provide fixed returns of 15% to 30%, guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). However, investigations revealed that Kovar did not engage in actual mining operations but instead used the funds of over 400 investors for personal luxury expenses and to pay returns to early investors, with the amount involved reaching $24 million.

ChainCatcher message, Paradigm researcher samczsun mentioned on X regarding the promotion scams of Meme coins on social media: "It's a very simple idea: the next time a large account is hacked and promotes an obvious scam, maybe the front end should manually remove that scam? Of course, no one would oppose this, unless the goal is to allow people to gamble in a casino?"

ChainCatcher news, Indian authorities have seized nearly $190 million in cryptocurrency related to Bitconnect during an ongoing investigation into a crypto Ponzi scheme that was uncovered in 2018, resulting in losses of approximately $2.4 billion for 4,000 investors across 95 countries. Bitconnect was launched in 2016 and collapsed in 2018.It is reported that Bitconnect founder Satish Kumbhani (who was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in February 2022) established a global network of promoters, paying them commissions to promote the Ponzi scheme.

ChainCatcher message, in response to Solayer team member Chaofan Shou's "box opening" behavior towards KIP Protocol team members, KIP Protocol co-founder Julian posted a response stating: "Come find me. This is no scam. If this were a scam, we wouldn't have received so much launch support. Just because you lost money doesn't mean this is a scam."In response, Solayer team member Chaofan Shou said, "The LIBRA incident was a scam, and I will find each and every one of you. From Vietnam to Singapore to the United States. You are in trouble."

ChainCatcher news, according to the Nevada Attorney General's Office, Las Vegas businessman Brent C. Kovar made his first court appearance on February 14 for alleged cryptocurrency fraud.Prosecutors accuse him of falsely claiming to use artificial intelligence to mine and verify cryptocurrency transactions through his company Profit Connect from the end of 2017 to July 2021, promising annual returns of 15%-30% and offering a full refund guarantee, defrauding approximately $24 million from over 400 investors.Kovar faces 12 counts of wire fraud, 3 counts of mail fraud, and 3 counts of money laundering, with a maximum sentence of 330 years in prison and a $4.5 million fine. The trial is set to begin on April 8, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the founder of the cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme Forcount, Antonia Perez Hernandez, has pleaded guilty to telecommunications fraud and has been sentenced to over two years in prison.On January 27, during a hearing at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Judge Analisa Torres (who is also the judge presiding over the SEC's case against Ripple Labs) sentenced Hernandez to 30 months in prison for her involvement in the cryptocurrency scam. Hernandez admitted to collaborating with accomplices from 2017 to 2021 to promote cryptocurrency trading and mining on Forcount, stealing approximately $8.4 million from investors by promising substantial returns.Hernandez apologized to those who "suffered financial losses" due to her actions. The project's senior founder, Juan Tacuri, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2024, while the indicted Nestor Nuñez was also sentenced to 4 years in November.

ChainCatcher news, according to an analysis by CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju, China may have sold 194,000 bitcoins seized from the PlusToken scam in 2019. These bitcoins were announced by the Chinese government to be "transferred to the national treasury," but it was not specified whether they had been sold.Ki Young Ju pointed out that these bitcoins flowed to several exchanges, including Huobi, after being mixed in 2019. If they were not sold, the operation of using mixers and multiple exchanges would be meaningless.

ChainCatcher news, crypto community KOL Nick Ford analyzed that the meme coin BARRON, named after Trump's youngest son, might be a common scam forged from popular addresses for deployment or purchase. Although on-chain it appears that the official Trump deployment is indeed buying BARRON, each purchase is for 0.01 SOL or 0.001 SOL, but checking the TX reveals that the transfers all come from the Barron PF creator wallet. Users can also see themselves listed in the from line in transactions made in their own wallets.Nick stated: "Ultimately, none of this matters. The deployer of the Trump concept meme token DJT, Martin Shkreli, mentioned that the wallet seems familiar with Barron Trump's previous activities, which has sparked excitement in the market.It's not a question of whether the coin is real, but rather the appearance of the entire event. Clearly, the market considers it real enough."

ChainCatcher message, Slow Mist founder Yu Xian posted a reminder that there has been a surge of counterfeit Safeguard scam activities on the Telegram platform recently. Hackers are luring users by impersonating comments, enticing them to install Trojan programs, ultimately leading to asset theft.If a user's computer unfortunately gets infected, it is recommended to take the following security measures immediately:Transfer all funds from any wallets that have been used, even password-protected extension wallets should not be taken lightly;Change all saved passwords in browsers, account passwords for logged-in accounts, and two-step verification (2FA);Modify the passwords for accounts on other applications like Telegram, even if no related threats have been discovered at the moment;Yu Xian suggests that users back up important data and then reinstall the system, and install well-known antivirus software such as AVG, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, etc. Currently, this scam mainly targets Windows and Mac users. Although there is no threat on mobile devices at present, users should still remain vigilant.

ChainCatcher news, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon stated that Bitcoin is a "Ponzi scheme" and has "no intrinsic value."

ChainCatcher message, user @0xDiyaaa shared a security incident related to the Telegram Safeguard scam, reminding everyone to raise security awareness as the year-end approaches. The user clicked on a TG link disguised as a validator bot in the comments section of a social platform, which executed a malicious command, putting their assets at risk. Fortunately, they had a handwritten mnemonic phrase backed up in advance, allowing them to transfer their assets in time and wipe their computer, avoiding greater losses.In addition, SlowMist founder Yu Xian also pointed out that this scam has expanded to Mac users. When users see specific instructions in Telegram, their clipboard may have been compromised by malicious code, and if they continue to follow the instructions, they will face serious security consequences.Try to avoid clicking on unknown links, especially TG links in the comments section of social platforms, and ensure that your wallet mnemonic phrase is backed up to respond quickly to emergencies.

ChainCatcher news, according to Freepressjournal, the special PMLA court in India has rejected the release request of Hemant Bhope and his wife Lata. The couple is accused of being involved in one of India's largest Bitcoin Ponzi schemes, reportedly involving a Delhi-based company, Variabletech Pvt Ltd (VTPL). The defendants conspired to lure investors into purchasing Bitcoin and encouraged others to invest in the company's fraudulent activities, with the scheme amounting to as much as 66.06 billion rupees.