Bitcoin Scammers: South America

A whole new avenue for thieves

BitConnect a 2017 Ponzi Scheme Format

Some of the biggest proponents of bitcoin among myself will never tell you the biggest use case currently for cryptocurrencies are illegal. It’s simply not something the bull want in the public eye. Personal friends of mine fell for the most recent and well know bit connect pyramid scheme in hopes of exponential returns. Hiding drug trades in the bitcoin blockchain isn’t as safe as once thought by silk road users but still is practiced widely.

What has come to my attention are the slew of sleazy “Financial Advisors” popping up all over the world. In my most recent visit to Hawaii, I was dumbfounded to hear a radio advertisement for an investment firm of one. This gentleman must have been pulling in enough money into his portfolio in order to run radio ads. He, however, was not advertising himself as a crypto investor.

Recently I had been working on an article regarding public opinions of a nation cryptocurrency adoption in nations where the idea has been entertained or gone through legislation. One user /u/Yukyto brought to my attention a scammer that went by the name of “My Trader Coin Estafa” in Ecuador.

“In some provinces they tricked indigenous people before the company vanished. The directors behind MTCoin seem to be in prison since last month.”

The only update I can find on the mytradercoin.com scam is that the website is now down. A YouTuber by the name of Forex Pro called out the MTCoin as a Ponzi scheme in July but only received 500 views.

This case is likely one of many that will be caught hopefully thrown in prison. However, with the nature of blockchain likely money will never be returned to the investors. Sick individuals are targetting those who know little about the project or the blockchain market as a whole. They utilize websites like YouTube or Vimeo in order to broadcast their promises to anyone willing to listen.

“Exactly, its too hard for the common folk to make money, so they go online with a credit card, and if it makes sense they buy something, because cryptocurrencies is almost non-existent in Ecuador, mostly because people trust what they see.” — /u/themightypatacon

As stated this wasn’t the first and won’t be the last arrest in similar cases. You have to consider that many will fly under the radar especially if they are only targetting populations that don’t have as much media attention. Such as the 7% of the Venezuelan population fleeing from the country for economic reasons to neighboring countries such as Ecuador where we can confirm this practice is apparently thriving.

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