ChainCatcher News: U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced that victims of business email compromise (BEC) who lost millions of dollars may be compensated due to the swift actions of the U.S. Secret Service and the asset forfeiture division of the U.S. Attorney's Office. In December 2023, a company engaged in real estate transactions reported that its system had been breached, with scammers stealing over $1 million by submitting fraudulent wire transfer instructions.Investigations revealed that at least ten other businesses or individuals were also victimized, with losses ranging from $75,000 to $425,000. The funds obtained from these scams were laundered through multiple bank accounts, some of which were held by "money mules," and were subsequently consolidated into a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Nigerian scammers.Law enforcement acted quickly, seizing approximately 32.68 bitcoins from the scammers' cryptocurrency wallet, valued at around $900,000 at the time. The U.S. Attorney's Office subsequently filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit for the seized bitcoins. Since the seizure, the price of bitcoin has more than tripled. Due to the increase in bitcoin prices, ten victims who have filed claims may receive full compensation.

ChainCatcher message, Scam Sniffer disclosed on the X platform that two victims recently lost 272 SOL due to a Solana address poisoning attack. The same fraudster has caused over 3.1 million dollars in losses through Solana address poisoning attacks in the past month.

ChainCatcher News, U.S. securities regulators have charged a fraud ring, accusing them of impersonating U.S. securities brokers and investment advisors, and defrauding at least $2.9 million through fake websites and phone scams.Since 2019, the group has posed as employees of well-known U.S. securities firms, promising monthly investment returns of 15%-25%. The group instructed investors to open accounts with brokerage firms and cryptocurrency trading platforms to purchase crypto assets, which they then misappropriated. The defendants also directed investors to fake online investment platforms they created, displaying fictitious high returns on these platforms.The victims of this case are primarily U.S. residents, with at least 28 victims and total losses amounting to $2.9 million.

ChainCatcher news, David Sacks, the crypto chief appointed by Trump, tweeted that there are too many stories of victims harmed by "Operation Choke Point 2.0" that need attention.Previously, Trump clearly stated during his campaign that if elected, he would immediately terminate the regulatory action known as "Operation Choke Point 2.0" to ensure that the banking system can provide a fair service environment for crypto businesses.

ChainCatcher message, Slow Mist founder Yu Xian stated on social media: "Directly submitting the DEXX theft form information to our victims exceeds 1,000, and there are many more victims contacted through various channels along with our security team. The losses vary in size, and the general statistics have been disclosed before. However, there are still many that have not been submitted. We are continuously conducting various complex cross-analyses with DEXX officials and partners to avoid false reports while hoping to collect as comprehensively as possible. This is a complex task.We know everyone is anxious. In addition to the DEXX officials filing a police report, several victims have also reported to the police. As a security company, Slow Mist has an obligation to cooperate with law enforcement, and the content of law enforcement actions will not be disclosed without authorization."

ChainCatcher news reports that, according to the U.S. police, a Florida man impersonated billionaire Elon Musk on Facebook and scammed over $250,000 from an elderly woman.Earlier this week, police arrested 56-year-old Jeffrey Moynihan, Jr. on charges of grand theft. The Bradenton Police Department stated that financial records show the victim, a woman from Texas, sent at least $250,000 to Moynihan's company in Florida. The victim's husband further told police that she had sent a total of "about $600,000" to Moynihan.Bradenton police said they arrested Moynihan at his home on November 19, noting that the real Elon Musk was likely busy with the sixth SpaceX Starship test flight that day.Police stated that the 74-year-old victim became friends on Facebook with an account named "Elon Musk" in 2023. The woman communicated with the fake account for "months," during which the impersonator encouraged her to invest in his business.The "fake Musk" promised the woman a $55 million return on her investment. However, police indicated that the money went directly into Moynihan and his company "Jeff's Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC" bank accounts.In body camera footage released by the police, Moynihan questioned why they had issued an arrest warrant when he was taken into custody. He asked in the video, "Grand theft? What did I steal?" It is currently unclear whether Moynihan has hired a lawyer. The Bradenton Police Department has not yet commented on this matter.

ChainCatcher news, South Korean virtual asset exchange Upbit announced that it has refunded approximately 8.5 billion won (about 6.07 million USD) to around 380 victims of telecom fraud. The operator Dunamu utilized a real-time abnormal transaction monitoring system (FDS) to freeze the affected funds and collaborated with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to advance the refund process. In February of this year, refunds of about 5 billion won were made to 246 victims, and this time an additional 3.5 billion won was refunded to 134 victims.Upbit stated that it will continue to strengthen monitoring and collaboration to protect user assets from telecom fraud.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official announcement, the SEC will distribute over $4.6 million to investors harmed by BitClave (PTE Ltd.'s unregistered digital asset securities ICO). After the notification and claims process, investors will now receive their respective shares from BitClave, and checks have started to be sent out.This payment is part of the settlement that BitClave agreed to pay in 2020, after the SEC charged the search engine with failing to register its 2017 ICO as a securities offering. In 2020, BitClave agreed to compensate approximately 9,500 investors who purchased its $25.5 million ICO three years prior. BitClave did not admit to any wrongdoing but committed to returning the $25.5 million raised from the ICO and paying an additional $4 million in penalties.

ChainCatcher news, blockchain security company SlowMist stated that as of November 18, the DEXX incident report has been updated: over 1,100 reports of stolen funds have been received from the community. After removing duplicate reports, more than 900 victims have been identified, with total losses estimated at $21 million (affected by price fluctuations). Loss details (so far):• >$1 million: 1 victim• $500,000 to $1 million: 2 victims• $100,000 to $500,000: 33 victims• $10,000 to $100,000: 292 victims• <$10,000: 656 victims

ChainCatcher message, Slow Mist released the DEXX incident report (as of November 16, 17:00) has received over 590 reports of stolen funds from the community. After deduplication, it is confirmed that there are more than 500 independent victims, with total losses estimated at around 13 million USD (the specific amount may vary with price fluctuations).The above data is only a partial statistic, and more updates will be provided as the investigation progresses.

ChainCatcher message, Scam Sniffer posted on platform X that in October, approximately 12,000 victims lost 20.2 million dollars due to cryptocurrency phishing scams. Compared to September, the stolen funds decreased by 56%, while the number of victims increased by 20%.

ChainCatcher news, the case of "virtual asset T-Coin pyramid scheme" with 30,000 victims in South Korea has recently been prosecuted by the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul. The individuals involved, including Choi and Lee, promised high returns under the guise of "investing in T-Coin, AI automatic trading" from 2017 to 2019, collecting a total of 3.9251 billion won.Since the case received complaints in September 2020, it has gone through a complex back-and-forth between the police and prosecutors, until the newly appointed prosecutor Lee Sang-won took the initiative to intervene, re-examine the case, and gather complainants for investigation, ultimately transferring the case to court within six months. The former prosecutor commented that this case highlights the phenomenon of evasion and delays in investigations between the police and prosecutors.

ChainCatcher news, the DEX Ambient on the Scroll chain announced on platform X that it has fully compensated all victims who recently suffered phishing attacks due to domain hijacking, with payments made in ETH, as there is no secure way to send tokens to these addresses. Users are advised to transfer their assets to a new wallet.ChainCatcher previously reported that the DEX protocol Ambient Finance on the Scroll chain stated on platform X that the domain has been hijacked and is currently working with the banning team and the domain registrar to resolve the issue as soon as possible. The contract is completely secure, and funds are safe. However, please do not interact with the Ambient Finance frontend until further notice.

ChainCatcher news, according to Protos, victims of the Omegapro cryptocurrency pyramid scheme have filed lawsuits against several well-known football players, accusing them of participating in the promotion of the project. The players involved include Vinicius Jr., Ronaldhino, Luis Figo, and others.Omegapro is a Dubai-based crypto investment company that promised investors astonishing returns of up to 300% within 14 months. Through marketing strategies and celebrity endorsements, the company attracted nearly 3 million customers and raised $4 billion. However, countries such as France, Belgium, Spain, and Peru have issued fraud warnings against Omegapro, and the Spanish Securities Market Commission has listed it among opaque financial enterprises.Despite clear warnings, about 20 active and retired football players still participated in the promotion of the project, including Kaká, Carles Puyol, Roberto Carlos, and Fernando Hierro. Lawyer and investigator Lars Olofsson stated that all football players involved in Omegapro activities will face lawsuits in London.Additionally, Spain also plans to sue these players, but it is currently unclear whether the lawsuits can be established in local courts.

ChainCatcher news, according to Protos, five suspects in Austria have been sentenced to prison for their involvement in a $16 million pyramid scheme that deceived 40,000 victims into investing in real estate and cryptocurrency. The perpetrators squandered the funds on luxury cars, private jets, and other extravagant items.The trial lasted 60 days and is referred to as the largest fraud case in Austrian history.Police stated that the involved gang used complex methods to conceal the flow of funds, making the investigation more challenging. Ultimately, the five defendants were sentenced to 18 months to 5 years in prison, while another five were acquitted.

ChainCatcher news, a large-scale cryptocurrency scam trial has begun in Nancy, France, with over 20 defendants accused of deceiving 1,300 victims through fake cryptocurrency and diamond investment schemes. The scam has stolen a total of 28 million euros (approximately 30 million dollars).Colman Law Firm, representing about 100 plaintiffs, stated that one victim lost 400,000 euros in the "diamond savings plan." Investigators revealed that the defendants had a total of 199 bank accounts in 19 countries used for transferring funds, with approximately 2.8 million euros recovered, which may be used to compensate the victims.

ChainCatcher news, according to Wu's interview with senior Huang Yifeng about Zhang Yufeng, who was previously reported by multiple media outlets to have donated 50 million to Shenzhen University just a year after graduation. It was later revealed that Zhang Yufeng had a heavily fabricated resume, did not actually make the donation, did not graduate normally, was in debt from online loans, and even forged an identity as an FTX employee. Additionally, after gaining the trust of alumni through fraudulent donations, Zhang Yufeng has frequently asked acquaintances for money in the past year under the guise of investing in "projects," failing to return the money on time after the agreed period, leading several victims to report him to the police.Huang Yifeng stated, "Zhang Yufeng claims to have some cryptocurrency projects that can double in a few months. After friends invested, Zhang Yufeng started to default and came up with many absurd excuses, such as being hospitalized in Hong Kong. After several victims reported him to the police, Zhang Yufeng's parents, who run a printing factory in Dongguan, helped repay part of the debt. Zhang Yufeng's rental at Shenzhen Bay No. 1 was warned due to unpaid rent. Zhang Yufeng even defaulted on an online loan of 6,000 yuan."

ChainCatcher news, according to CryptoNews, up to 20,000 people in San Pedro, Argentina have been caught up in a fraudulent crypto project related to USDT, which was promoted by some unknown actors.Lawyers state that the platform's operators promised to double investors' funds within six weeks and offered some investors daily returns of 1% to 2% in USD. Currently, at least 50 victims are preparing to file a lawsuit against a company named Knight Consortium. This company operates a crypto platform called "RainbowEx," but it is not registered or legally supported.Among the victims are some retirees, and some investors have been unable to withdraw their funds for three weeks, causing widespread panic.

ChainCatcher news, according to Etherscan data, today an address that lost over 12,000 spWETH due to phishing sent a message on-chain to the attacker’s address, "Hello, I would like to propose a peaceful resolution. If you agree to return the funds, I am willing to offer a 20% reward."ChainCatcher previously reported, according to Scam Sniffer monitoring, an address signed a phishing contract signature 43 minutes ago and had 12,083 spWETH stolen, worth approximately 32.43 million USD.