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PlusToken crypto wallet, which proposed storing almost all the world's leading cryptocurrencies and making a profit on their investments, can claim the status of the largest fraudulent project in the history of financial pyramids. Users cannot withdraw the equivalent of $ 3 billion from their online wallets.

PlusToken, an international decentralized crypto project of the multi-currency online wallet PlusToken, was launched in April 2018. The project was positioned by the creators as developing a team from South Korea using Samsung technology. The marketing campaign was launched in Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam), a number of European countries (Germany and the UK), as well as in Russia.

In addition to the ability to store almost all the world's leading cryptocurrencies in the wallet - Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, XRP, EOS, IO, Litecoin, Doge and Dash, users were promised a fairly significant return on investment of their cryptocurrency assets - from 6% to 19% per month.

According to experts from Elementus (USA), a company that creates and promotes fintech solutions based on blockchain technology, over 800 thousand Ethereum cryptocurrency depositors have used PlusToken wallets for the entire existence of the project and stored about 10 million ETH on them.

According to the Special elaborations department of the Technopark of St. Petersburg, the PlusToken pyramid attracted about 200 thousand bitcoins, 789 thousand ETH and 26 million EOSIO. All these funds went to wallets controlled by the PlusToken team.

However, interested media write, these estimates are very preliminary, and the amount collected from investors may be much larger. So, experts say, only the Ethereum address of PlusToken stored more than 781,000 ETH, which, in terms of the exchange rate, amounts to more than $ 234 million.

The capitalization of PlusToken at the top of trading reached $ 17 billion. PlusToken was accused of fraud in March 2019, when Chinese police raided PlusToken's offices in Hunan (PRC). The head of PlusToken's Chinese unit, Chen Bo, as well as five other Chinese citizens related to the cryptocurrency wallet project, have disappeared and are on the wanted list.

Problems with the withdrawal of assets from PlusToken wallets began in late June 2019. The Chinese investors were the first to suffer, as evidenced by the entries in the PlusToken support service, which did not respond to calls, and, starting on June 29, the PlusCoin platform token exchange rate remained at the same level ($ 139,237) without hesitation.

On June 29, according to the Dailypost, six Chinese citizens suspected of participating in an Internet scam were arrested on the island of Vanuatu at the request of the Chinese authorities and deported back to China. It is possible, the publication reports that they are precisely the key figures in the PlusToken team.

To date, it is known that the organizers of PlusToken have already managed to cash out part of the bitcoins through crypto exchanges Huobi Global (Singapore) and Bittrex (USA). In particular, the Singapore cryptocurrency exchange got almost half of the funds raised for wallets - about 4.3 million ETH. The other part was transferred to one of the cryptocurrency wallets.

It was possible to track the funds of defrauded investors thanks to the cryptocurrency transaction analysis service created in the Special elaborations department of the Technopark of St. Petersburg.

According to experts, the obvious signs of the financial pyramid of the PlusToken project were tracked from the very beginning. Among them, the referral system of distribution of funds offered to investors, which is characteristic of financial pyramids and MLM marketing, and unjustifiably high monthly profit (from 6% to 19%.). The PlusToken fraudulent scheme is already being compared with the principles of organizing the BitConnect closed cryptocurrency platform. It entered the market through an ICO at the end of December 2016, and by the end of 2017, its BCC tokens have established themselves as one of the fastest growing cryptocurrencies. She guaranteed her investors a 40% return for a month. According to CoinMarketCap, in a fairly short time, BCC capitalization reached $ 2.6 billion, and the ATH rate was $ 460. But in January 2018, BitConnect unexpectedly for its investors announced the closure of the exchange and the lending program, notifying them that they would continue to provide services as a wallet, but at the same time change the format to a media platform. Immediately after this announcement, investors fell into a panic, and the BCC rate lost 96% of the cost.

It is interesting to note that in Russia until now, users have access to the PlusToken mobile wallet, which can be downloaded from the GooglePlay and AppStore stores. For the storage of their crypto assets in the wallet, Russian investors are still guaranteed a profit of 6% to 19% monthly. True, the “blog” section of PlusToken’s Russian site is currently inactive (or deleted), and all consultations are invited to receive via WhatsApp.

Source: IT News.

On September 3, 2019, in St. Petersburg, specialists and residents of the SafeNet RIC of the St. Petersburg Technopark, together with the Russoft NP and Bee Pitron, held a presentation session for the Indian delegation of Infinity Group. The key focus of the event was the creation of a platform for interaction between participants in the Russian-Indian market.

As part of the meeting, Igor Bederov presented the developments of the Special Development Department for a distinguished guest from India. Mr. Darbari drew particular attention to existing developments in the field of cryptocurrency transaction control and crime prevention. According to him, in India, up to 20% of the population and a significant amount of low-level crime use cryptocurrencies. In addition, the country has not resolved the problem of relapse in previously convicted criminals.

Back in July, in the format of the Second Russian-Indian strategic dialogue, in order to establish a technology transfer, an agreement was signed between RUSSOFT and Infinity Group. As a result, the ICT Center of Excellence project was launched in India, designed to establish cooperation between the two countries in the direction of business development and international assistance to SMEs.

The delegation of the Infinity Group, headed by Mr. Darbari, flew to Russia to meet with potential recipients of investments and to transfer technology from Russia to India under the “Made in India” program.

After a tour of the engineering center, SafeNet residents presented their projects in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, cyberphysical security, blockchain, virtual and augmented reality. The parties discussed the situation on the international high-tech market and considered options for potential mutually beneficial cooperation. ICT experts emphasized the relevance of Russian solutions to the market of India and other countries and discussed the possibility of implementation.

Source: Engineering center SafeNet.

PlusToken could be the largest scam in the history of financial pyramids. This project has already raised almost $ 3 billion in cryptocurrencies.

At the end of June of this year, six PlusToken project fraud suspects were arrested in China, while another part of the executives is still at large.

According to Elementus researchers, PlusToken collected 10 million ETH from over 800 thousand contributors. In addition to ETH, funds were invested in the project in other digital assets - in bitcoins, XRP and EOS. The total amount of funds raised is impressive - almost $ 3 billion in terms of the exchange rate. Investors live in almost all Asian countries, as well as in Russia, Ukraine, Germany and Canada.

According to preliminary estimates of other researchers, the PlusToken pyramid attracted about 200 thousand bitcoins, 789 thousand ETH and 26 million EOS. All of these funds went to wallets controlled by the PlusToken team. It was possible to track the funds of defrauded investors thanks to the cryptocurrency transaction analysis service created in the Special elaborations department of the Technopark of St. Petersburg. It is known that some of the bitcoins were already cashed by criminals through the Huobi Global and Bittrex crypto exchanges, while the other part settled on one of the crypto wallets.

In particular, PlusToken organizers transferred almost half of the funds raised to the Singapore Huobi crypto exchange - at least 4.3 million ETH of the total ETH.

The PlusToken project was launched in 2018 as an international cryptocurrency project and a decentralized solution (crypto wallet), supported by a team from South Korea. Project promotion was supposed mainly in Asian countries - China, Japan, Myanmar, Vietnam, as well as in Russia and Europe. The project immediately had obvious signs of a financial pyramid - a referral system was offered to investors and a monthly profit of 6% to 19% was promised. According to experts, the PlusToken fraudulent scheme is organized on the principle of the already closed BitConnect platform - with tokens and dividends. The capitalization of BitConnect tokens at the top of trading was a little over $ 121 million, and the capitalization of PlusToken was already $ 17 billion.

Although the PlusToken pyramid has ceased to exist, "a holy place does not exist empty." Similar projects Cloud Token and VDS (Vollar) appear on the market with a market capitalization of $ 1 billion and are already becoming popular, including among Russian-speaking users.

Earlier we reported what a financial pyramid is. Often, pyramids are often understood as MLM - a method of marketing promotion and sales that has been used for many years. Nevertheless, there are different nuances. A synonym for the “evil” pyramid is a scheme named after Ponzi, an Italian-American scammer who created a scam, massively promising investors profit from the contributions of new participants, forming a pyramid until the collapse that inevitably occurs, according to the nature of speculation and any financial bubbles. In our country, Mavrodi distinguished himself with such a fraud with the MMM pyramid. The concept of a financial pyramid is fixed at the legislative level and you can pay for it, including imprisonment for up to six years. So far, the practice of applying this criminal article is not very common.

The Central Bank of Russia gives several main signs of the financial pyramid in its recommendations: paying money to participants from funds contributed by other participants, lack of licenses for this type of activity, promise of high profitability, lack of information about the financial position of the organization, lack of own fixed assets or assets, lack of certain type of activity of the company.

Source: CryptoRussia.ru

Orlando, FL, United States – 21 June 2019. Financial innovation has drastically changed the financial landscape. New technologies, services and products offer efficient alternatives to classic financial products and can improve financial inclusion. At the same time, the speed and anonymity of some of these innovative products can attract criminals and terrorist who wish to use them to launder the proceeds of their crimes and finance their illicit activities.

This guidance will help countries and virtual asset service providers understand their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing obligations, and effectively implement the FATF’s requirements as they apply to this sector.

This guidance follows revisions to the FATF Recommendations in October 2018 and June 2019 in response to the increasing use of virtual assets for money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF strengthened its standards to clarify the application of anti-money laundering and counter- terrorist financing requirements on virtual assets and virtual asset service providers. Countries are now required to assess and mitigate their risks associated with virtual asset financial activities and providers; license or register providers and subject them to supervision or monitoring by competent national authorities. Virtual asset service providers are subject to the same relevant FATF measures that apply to financial institutions.

The guidance addresses the following:

- How do virtual assets activities and virtual asset service providers fall within the scope of the FATF Recommendations? (Section II)
- How should countries and competent authorities apply the FATF Recommendations in the context of virtual assets or virtual asset service providers? (Section III)
- How do the FATF Recommendations apply to virtual asset service providers, and other entities (including banks, securities broker-dealers) that engage in or provide virtual asset covered activities?

The guidance, which benefited from dialogue with the private sector, also includes examples of national approaches to regulating and supervising virtual asset activities and virtual asset service providers to prevent their misuse for money laundering and terrorist financing.

Source: Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

BRUSSELS, 1000, BELGIUM, June 18, 2019. CYBERPOL Public Search Criminal Database to include Crypto Currency wallets used in cyber crime.

CYBERPOL The International Cyber Policing Organization established by decree no WL 22/16.595 established today four years ago in Brussels made available to the public the first cyber criminal database empowered by the "Neural symbiotic network of the super computer" as the international cyber utility agency leader in investigation in cyber crimes and terror of the Dark-Web today.

This first Cyber Criminal Public Record Database in Beta Test mode currently will allow four basic levels of searching of wanted cyber criminals allowing for verification and searches of IP's, emails and Cryptocurrency wallets used in on-line scams related to cyber crimes listed in the database.

In addition to this, all cryptowallets using crypto currencies in cybercrime will now be listed on the Cyber Crime search engine by CYBERPOL organization making it very difficult for cyber criminals to use crypto-currencies as payment methods for scams and cyber crimes.

You can now report any scam email to CYBERPOL that when verified will be listed in the CYBERPOL Cyber Criminal Public Database open to public to search.

More than £108,000 in bitcoin was paid by victims of the WannaCry ransomware attacks using bitcoin as undetectable crypto-currency payment. Since such wallets used in crimes are not considered privacy breaches but in the interest of the law it is in the public interest to warn public and make such wallets black listed public records globally before further victims falls pray to cyber crimes Baretzky President of CYBERPOL said.

Public and law enforcement can use this CYBERPOL facilities for free and report such e-mail of extortion to be entered into the public records of CYBERPOL Public Utility directly by requests.

Several entries is already public to search on-line and don't try to fool CYBERPOL. The tracking of cyber crimes goes the extra mile to track the same hackers when visiting the search engine on CYBERPOL website using a new AI (Artificial Intelligence) named 666 to capture both mac and serial number of such computers. Don't be a hackers fool to search yourselves if you are already involved in cyber crimes, the CYBERPOL Spokes Person warned.

This will be a huge blow for crypto currencies and wallets used in cyber crimes and scams as the wallet numbers will be public listed and open to see to all public and law-enforcement free of charges in disrupting cyber crimes.

The message is clear and simple President Ricardo Baretzky of CYBERPOL said "Don't use any Crypto Currencies in INTERNET crimes as we will not only find you but list your crypto WALLET accounts for good in the block-chain based search engine of CYBERPOL Supper Computer AI 666 symbiotic neural network and let me assure all those financial criminals, once listed there is no escape! I hope this message is clear to criminals and corruption".

It seems the days messing with elections using secret corruption payments could be counted as CYBERPOL has set a new paradigm in combating cyber crimes and global corruption never seen before...

Source: EIN Presswire.

In early July, SafeNet regional engineering center (structural division of JSC Technopark of St. Petersburg) has introduced a new project.

Thus, together with the company Internet-Rozysk was announced the creation of the Special elaborations department. Which purpose is the organization of work with information and analytical and other products intended for the prevention, suppression and investigation of the offenses committed by means of information and telecommunication technologies.

Key activities of the new Department:

1. interaction with profile startups, companies and developers;
2. organization of interaction with state and law enforcement agencies. Control over the legality and legality of the development;
3. consulting and carrying out examinations, development of methodical and scientific base, training and professional development for the persons engaged in law enforcement activity, and also other persons;
4. organization of demonstration zones, exhibitions, interaction with the media, negotiations aimed at attracting interest in the development of the Department, the implementation of its product line, promotion of activities.

Developers engaged in the following project categories are invited to interact:

- assessment of reliability of contractors and staff;
- non-instrumental lie detection;
- detection of illegal activities in social networks;
- analysis and tracking of cryptocurrency transactions;
- establishing users phone numbers and email addresses;
- establishing users of secure messengers;
- enrichment and analysis of large amounts of publicly available data;
- detection and suppression of confidential information leaks;
- darknet Analytics;
- analysis and decoding of Internet traffic.

Source: SafeNet еngineering center.

On May 9, 2019, FinCEN released guidelines for applying the rules to some of the Business Models for Attracting Convertible Virtual Currencies. To remind individuals under the Banking Secrets Act (BSA) about how FinCEN rules relating to companies providing monetary services (MSBs) apply to certain business models related to the transfer of money denominated in value, which replaces currency, in particular, convertible virtual currencies (CVCs).

This guidance does not establish any new regulatory expectations or requirements. Rather, it consolidates current FinCEN regulations, and related administrative rulings and guidance issued since 2011, and then applies these rules and interpretations to other common business models involving CVC engaging in the same underlying patterns of activity.

This guidance is intended to help financial institutions comply with their existing obligations under the BSA as they relate to current and emerging business models involving CVC by describing FinCEN’s existing regulatory approach to the issues most frequently raised by industry, law enforcement, and other regulatory bodies within this evolving financial environment. In this regard, it covers only certain business models and necessarily does not address every potential combination of facts and circumstances. Thus, a person working with a business model not specifically included in this guidance may still have BSA obligations.

The overall structure of this guidance is as follows:

Section 1 defines certain key concepts within the context of the guidance. Although the titles or names assigned to these key concepts may coincide with terms customarily used by industry and share similar attributes, for purposes of the guidance their meaning is limited to the definition provided in the guidance.

Section 2 consolidates and explains current FinCEN regulations, previous administrative rulings, and guidance involving the regulation of money transmission under the BSA. By consolidating and summarizing rules and interpretation in a single Section, this guidance provides a resource to help financial institutions comply with their existing obligations under the BSA as they relate to current and emerging activities involving CVC.

Section 3 summarizes the development and content of FinCEN’s 2013 guidance on the application of money transmission regulations to transactions denominated in CVC.

Sections 4 and 5 describe FinCEN’s existing regulatory approach to current and emerging business models using patterns of activity involving CVC. This approach illustrates how FinCEN fits existing interpretations about certain activities to other activities that at first may seem unrelated, but conform to the same combination of key facts and circumstances.

Finally, Section 6 contains a list of resources to which interested parties may refer for further explanation about the content of the guidance, or to assist in evaluating facts and circumstances not expressly covered in this guidance.

Source: United States Department of the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network | FinCEN.gov

Report for the first three months of the current year CipherTrace Cryptocurrency Intelligence (April 2019).

Cryptocurrency Thefts, Scams, and Fraud Could Tally More than $1.2 Billion in First Quarter 2019.

Criminals stole more than US$356 million from exchanges and infrastructure during the first quarter of 2019. Among these losses, exit scams—which CipherTrace is considering the implosion of QuadrigaCX to be one—robbed cryptocurrency users of nearly US$195 million. On top of these numbers, the New York Attorney General’s Office revealed what they allege is a fraud involving the loss of $851 million by a major cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex. Cyber criminals also developed ingenious new techniques to drain millions more from user accounts and wallets. These thefts only represent the losses that are visible. CipherTrace estimates the true number of crypto asset losses was much higher.

46% Increase in the Number of Cross-Border Payments from US Cryptocurrency Exchanges Over the Last Two Years.

CipherTrace research conducted in Q1 revealed a major hole in the current cryptocurrency regulatory fabric with respect to cross-border payments. An analysis of 164 million BTC transactions revealed that cross-border payments from US exchanges to offshore exchanges increased from 45% from the twelve months ending Q1 2017 to 66% in the twelve months ending Q1 2019. This is significant because according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, “$8.7 trillion, 11.5 percent of the world’s wealth, is hidden offshore.”

Once these payments reach exchanges and wallets in other parts of the globe they fall off the radar of US authorities. For now, it is uncertain if these cross border inter-exchange payments trigger the FinCEN requirement that “MSBs must keep a five-year record of currency exchanges greater than $1,000 and money transfers greater than $3,000.” But experts recommend MSBs retain tax ID/SSN for these transactions.

A Significant Wave of Regulation Is Coming to the Cryptocurrency Economy.

Ultimately, thieves and scam artists will need to launder the cryptocurrency stolen or scammed in Q1 2019. Furthermore, this will require innovative new ways to cash out, and turn all that tainted virtual money into clean, spendable fiat currencies. And they will also need to get it done under the much more watchful eyes of government regulators and banks as a tsunami of tough new global anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terror financing (CTF) regulations will roll over the crypto landscape in the coming year. As of April 2019, 17 countries plus the European Union within the jurisdiction of the Financial Stability Board had at least some regulation or standard-setting bodies dealing with cryptocurrencies. These bodies will be responsible for implementing regulations that enforce FATF policy and AMLD5.

In light of the huge losses suffered by users of QuadrigaCX, regulators in Canada and around the world are rethinking controls on the internal business practices and security operations of exchanges. In addition, regulators are beginning to recommend bans on privacy coins, as criminals are coming to prefer these new anonymous altcoins to bitcoin because they are more difficult to trace. Banks also continue to face problems coping with the coming wave of regulations as they increasingly recognize there are undetected cryptocurrency operations that are using their fiat payment networks and customer accounts. Plus, courts in some countries have ruled that banks must do business with licensed cryptocurrency companies.

Crypto Crime Evolves and Expands from the Virtual to the Real World.

The previous year’s crypto crime spree was dominated by major external exchange hacks around the globe—with the biggest occurring in Q1 2018. However, in the first quarter of this year, insiders, extortionists and scammers attempted a more diverse range of crypto crimes. As just one example, kidnappers in Norway demanded nine million euros (approximately US$10.3 million) ransom in Monero, a privacy coin, for a billionaire’s wife, who has not yet been returned. There were also two large insider thefts/misappropriations (QuadrigaCX and Bitfinex). This shift suggests that security against external hackers at exchanges is maturing under the pressure from regulators and customers to take necessary measures to prevent losses.

The geopolitical implications of cryptocurrencies also took center stage in Q1 2019 with countries competing to attract crypto businesses and foster related economic growth. Conversely, overt attempts to evade sanctions by hostile nations show that economic adversaries recognize the money laundering and terrorist financing potential of crypto assets. On March 6, 2019, the UN Security Council reported North Korean state-backed hackers successfully breached at least five cryptocurrency exchanges in Asia between January 2017 and September 2018, causing $571 million in losses.

Q1 2019 Crypto Crime Highlights:

- Thieves and scammers stole more than $356 million from exchanges and users.

- Customers suffered losses of approximately US$195 million when Canada’s major cryptocurrency exchange, QuadrigaCX, imploded after the CEO mysteriously perished in India, allegedly along with the passwords to virtually all of the exchange’s assets. CipherTrace analysis casts severe doubt that this was anything other than a theft, fraud, or foul play.

- On March 26, the New York Attorney General’s Office brought suit against the parent company of Bitfinex and Tether.
- The AG claimed Tether had failed to disclose a secret transfer of funds from the fiat pool of funds supposedly backing tether, which converted tether from asset-backed to debt-backed unbeknownst to tether holders.
- Bitfinex allegedly lost $851 million. The source of the loss was a Panamanian payment processor also used by QuadrigaCX.

- Iran announced the imminent launch of its long-rumored Crypto Rial, a state-backed stable coin developed with the express purpose of circumventing political sanctions and overcoming sanctions-related restrictions by SWIFT.

- The Russian Duma approved international use of the domestically developed SPFS as a ‘SWIFT alternative’ for cross-border payments in an effort to avoid political sanctions.

- The French government issued a report recommending a ban on privacy coins.

- The UN published the findings of a private report that concluded North Korean hackers looted $571 million from five cryptocurrency exchanges in Asia.

- Courts in some countries forced financial institutions to bank crypto asset businesses.

- The Bank of Mexico reportedly proposed banning financial institutions from transacting with crypto exchanges, citing money laundering and terror financing risks.

Source: CipherTrace.

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