The prosecutor’s office of Brooklyn and New York revealed the details of the investigation of a fraudulent scheme with cryptocurrencies and fake ads on social networks. The victims returned $ 140,000 and frozen $ 300,000 in cryptocurrencies.

According to the joint statement of the district prosecutor Brooklyn Eric Gonzalez, the general prosecutor of New York Letiia James (Letitia James) and the superintendent of the Department of Financial Services of New York (Nydfs) Adrienne Harris, the scam was the scam aimed at members of the Russian -speaking community in Brooklyn and US residents.

The investigation began in October 2024, when NYDFS discovered a fake site for investment in cryptocurrency. It presented a fake Bitlicense license, which NYDFS gives to crypto companies so that they can legally work in the state of New York.

The first site that Nydfs discovered was Whalestrade.com – it was part of a large fraudulent scheme aimed at the Russian -speaking residents of Brooklyn. Attackers lured the victims with announcements in social networks, many of which were in Russian and published on behalf of famous personalities.

As soon as the victims showed interest in investments, scammers invited them to WhatsApp and Telegram messengers for more detailed discussions. After making deposits to fake platforms, scammers provided investors with fabricated reports on the growth of their profits, thereby motivating them to invest even more money.

When trying to withdraw funds, users requested the so -called commissions for the withdrawal or it was required to pay a “tax”. Ultimately, scammers stopped communications with the victims and disappeared with their money. According to the investigation, in Brooklyn alone, investors lost more than $ 1 million on this scheme.

Fraudsters sent stolen cryptocurrencies to the registers of domains as a payment for creating fake websites on investment in cryptocurrency, as well as to pay for false ads on the Facebook social network. META has already closed more than 700 accounts associated with the Black Hat advertiser, promoting the scam.

In May, the New York police detained a local resident on charges of organizing a cryptocurrency pyramid, in which investors lost more than $ 43 million, believing promises of high profit.