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With extremely fast-paced technology, the number of incidences of frauds and hacks is going scarily high. Especially, in the crypto market, due to its vulnerabilities, the scam incidences do not generate a shock wave anymore.
Recently, in Taiwan 15 crypto operators were arrested as they were suspected to be the part of a cryptocurrency scam worth $8 million. Police in New Taipei alleges that they have carried out a cryptocurrency scam that earned them millions of dollars. The scam news came out as Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) gave a piece of information about that on Saturday. The scam involves a cryptocurrency called IBCoin. The Investigation Bureau notes that the scam has affected around 30 investors.
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In the fraud, IBCoin was used to part investors from their cash. IBCoin is an Ethereum (ETH) ERC20 token designed to be used as a means of payment for the adult entertainment industry. CIB explained the fraud scheme, saying that Lin, the leader of this scheme purchased the tokens at a quite lower price of NT$1.5 per unit using his connections, in 2017. Then he tricked to sell the IBCoin for NT$50-NT$100 per bit. Reportedly, The suspects also publicized their scheme on Facebook. In order to attract investors, it featured pictures of expensive cars and luxurious lifestyles. Ones after investors put their money in the scheme, they never received any return on their investment. The CIB said, “there are currently no known companies that trade or deal in IBCoins.”
The CIB’s Investigation Corps chief, Li Chi-Hsun reportedly hosted a press conference. In which, he revealed that all the 15 fraud suspects have been detained. He also said that the CIB made two raids on Jan 9 and Jan 17 regarding the case. Chi-Hsun stated that Lin has also been arrested.
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With that, the previous year was riddled with scams in the crypto industry. One estimation notes that the scams and crypto crimes in 2018 caused the loss of $3 billion. Apparently, this recent crypto scam in Taiwan is one of the largest crypto fraud this year in Asia. One more crypto scam in Asia was found in India by Indian police, earlier this month. Here, the fraud involved 5 billion rupees (about $70.5 million).
