The big news this week is that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) done went and charged 12 folks for stealing a whopping $263 million in crypto. These individuals are all mixed up in a previous case where scammers managed to swipe over $243 million from a Genesis creditor. According to blockchain detective ZachXBT, some sneaky scammers tricked one of Genesis’ creditors last year and made off with $243 million in digital assets, shifting it through crypto mixers like some kind of magic trick.
Yep, you heard it right! Several of these troublemakers, a mix of U.S. citizens and foreigners, got themselves arrested in California this week. The DOJ even put out a fancy press release on Thursday to let everyone know about it. And get this, the remaining two troublemakers are holed up abroad somewhere. The charges against these folks range from racketeering to wire fraud to money laundering and even obstruction of justice. Looks like they were up to no good, huh?
So, it seems like these scammers are using all sorts of tricks these days to get their hands on people’s crypto. They use social engineering scams to snag personal info and then sweet talk folks into handing over their hard-earned digital coins. And if that wasn’t enough, Coinbase spilled the beans that some bad apples bribed their overseas employees to swipe important user data from their database. Coinbase is feeling pretty guilty about it and plans to fork over between $180 million to $400 million to make things right.
All in all, it’s a wild ride out there in the world of crypto fraud and scams. But hey, at least the DOJ is on the case, trying to put a stop to all this madness. Let’s hope they catch all these scammers and bring them to justice real soon. It’s a crazy world we live in, folks. Stay safe out there!
