Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Tuesday, Aug 26, 2025

Squid Game Coin & Other Crypto Scams That Left Millions of Investors Stone Broke

Squid Game Coin & Other Crypto Scams That Left Millions of Investors Stone Broke

Cryptocurrency is usually a volatile investment environment with no guarantees but the promise of impressive returns has seen scores of people trusting flimsy schemes that can disappear in the blink of an eye.

Crypto experts tend to warn the newbies in the game against trusting anyone on social media positioning themselves as a crypto trader. Anyone who asks for payment in cryptocurrency online or via ATM is also a red flag.

Investors are encouraged to be aware of anyone trying to pressure them to invest immediately on the website of the product or app to double their money in a matter of days or weeks.

The cryptomarket follows the newest global developments and trends, with a prime example being the creation of the Squid Game crypto token, launched after the success of the Korean TV series, Squid Game.


Those behind complex and convoluted Ponzi schemes can be persuasive, making investors part with thousands of dollars in no time.

The Squid Game coin turned out to be a scam, collapsing shortly after its launch and leaving many out of pocket.

Some of the loudest scam cases have robbed investors all over the world of millions.

Bitconnect


One of the biggest scams to date has been the open-source cryptocurrency BitConnect, launched in February 2016 by Satish Kumbhani. BitConnect presented itself as a cryptocurrency lending platform, where Bitcoin could be exchanged for the BitConnect coin. What was initially positioned as an open-source cryptocurrency with a guaranty of 40 percent return for investors, turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

BitConnect cost its investors around $3.45 billion after it shut down in 2017, following warnings and cease and desist orders by UK and US regulators.

OneCoin


Another Ponzi scheme – whose founders and leadership are now serving or facing a total maximum sentence of 90 years in prison – is OneCoin. The scheme, which has been reported to rob investors all over the world of £4 billion ($4.9 billion), was founded by a Bulgarian businesswoman Ruja Ignatova, who disappeared in 2017 and hasn’t been seen since. OneCoin was actually not a decentralised cryptocurrency but rather a centralised currency hosted on OneCoin Ltd's servers.

Owners of OneCoin could exchange it for any other currency at OneCoin Exchange, xcoinx, an internal marketplace for members who had invested more than just a starter package.

Ignatova’s brother, Konstantin, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in March 2019. One of OneCoin co-founders, Sebastian Greenwood, was extradited to the US in November 2018.

Despite the shutdown and the charges against its founders, the Bulgarian-based organisation behind OneCoin Ltd continues to operate and denies all wrongdoing.

Pincoin


An ICO launched by a Vietnamese cryptocurrency company Modern Tech, Pincoin has raised more than $600 million from approximately 32,000 people.

Investors in Pincoin were promised constant returns and rather than being paid back in cash, they would receive a new token called iFan.

The Pincoin team were paying out rewards to investors in iFan tokens, until they disappeared in April 2018. The same year, Vietnamese authorities asked local ministries and the police to investigate Pincoin.

ACChain


In 2018, another company raised millions of dollars through its investors' three ventures, which were never realised. Investors of the Chinese company Shenzhen Puyin Blockchain lost $60 million as the company’s ICO’s – ACChain, Puyin, and BioLifeChain – failed to materialise.

Shenzhen authorities have since arrested six suspects involved in the fraud.

Bitclub Network

Good salesmanship and marketing won another Ponzi scheme – BitClub Network – more than $700 million.

The US Department of Justice has filed a case against people behind the “fraudulent scheme that solicited money from investors in exchange for shares of purported cryptocurrency mining pools and rewarded investors for recruiting new investors into the scheme.”

Matthew Brent Goettsche, Jobadiah Sinclair Weeks, and Silviu Catalin Balaci were conspiring, according to the US government, to solicit investment in BitClub Network through fraudulent means, including by providing false and misleading figures that BitClub investors were told were “bitcoin mining earnings” purportedly generated by BitClub Network’s bitcoin mining pool.

Monday saw the worth of the world cryptocurrency market reach more than $3 trillion for the first time, with Bitcoin hitting above $66,000 and Ethereum – $4,768.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Trump Backs Putin’s Land-for-Peace Proposal Amid Kyiv’s Rejection
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
United States Sells Luxury Yacht Amadea, Valued at Approximately $325 Million, in First Sale of a Seized Russian Yacht Since the Invasion of Ukraine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
×