WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal court has halted the activities and frozen the assets of four people who allegedly promoted schemes falsely promising large returns for small payments of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the Federal Trade Commission said on Friday.

The FTC, which requested a temporary restraining order and asset freezes pending trial, said three “chain referral schemes” were marketed as bona-fide money-making opportunities via YouTube, social media, and conference calls. In reality they failed to deliver any returns or allow consumers to recoup their investments, the agency said. They were called Bitcoin Funding Team, My7Network and Jetcoin, according to the FTC.