Classic Crypto Ponzi Scheme: Man Fined $36 Million, Jail Time

[TomPluz]

Of all the many types, kinds of scams we can find online, the most classic will always be the use of the Ponzi scheme where returns or profits of one older investor will be taken from those who are coming new. Unfortunately, many can still be a victim most especially as the perpetrators will always appeal to greed - that idea that one can earn a lot of money by just doing nothing, just give them your money and wait for your profits to come to you with no hassles whatsoever until the scheme collapse and nobody will be paid anymore.

This is the case of the case of William Koo Ichioka, a New York resident, who has been fined over $36 million plus another $5 million and 48 months of jail time for orchestrating a fraudulent cryptocurrency and forex investment scheme that promised unrealistic returns.

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?

In my own opinion, there is a need to revisit the laws against scams and increase the penalties x10 to serve as one of the best warnings to perpetrators to think x100 before victimizing people and their hard-earned money. On the other hand, I am just wondering...does the USA has an effective education program for people to understand well how to avoid these scams and not lose their money?

[bitterguy28]

that idea that one can earn a lot of money by just doing nothing, just give them your money and wait for your profits to come to you with no hassles whatsoever until the scheme collapse and nobody will be paid anymore.

these people must be so desperate or stupid or both to still believe that in today's time you can earn easy money it is high time that people stop believing we can earn without having to work hard for it money does not grow on trees!!!! nor does it fall from the sky stop hoping for it

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?

probably they are just including it because many are not familiar with crypto and they want to specify and discuss what is crypto and how was it used for a scam however the negative side of specifying this as a crypto scam is since many people do not read actual articles and just depend on headlines, they will now associate crypto with scams and specifically ponzi schemes it used to be worse back then where every crypto project was classified as a ponzi scheme

[Jating]

I think the FBI has been issuing a lot of warnings to the US citizen about any scams, not just related to crypto. But this criminals knows how to target their victims, it's the old and retiree because they are not that adept to this kind of scams and so they are easy pray for this scammers. There were even a movie with this plot, someone scams a old lady, she died, then his friend takes revenge and killed the owner of the scam platform.

However, I'm still confused about the US justice system as they usually meted out sentences are that light, just like in the case of SBF wherein he would go to jail for just 20 years. And for sure he could have ask the board to review his case after a couple of years and could be out in 5 years.

[yhiaali3]

Yes, I also hate it when governments or the media describe such scams as "crypto scams", I think it is a deliberate tactic to scare people away from cryptocurrencies. Although Ponzi schemes with dollars and other fiat currencies have been around for a long time.

Here in my country for example, there are more than one case of Ponzi schemes using local currency and nothing to do with cryptocurrencies at all. Recently, thousands of people were scammed by a Ponzi scheme where the fake project owner stole billions in national currency with false promises to people to get huge profits without them doing anything but putting their money in the scammer's pocket. Unfortunately, he managed to escape out of the country without the government being able to catch him.

[ABCbits]

The court’s decision follows an earlier consent order from August 2023, which permanently banned Ichioka from trading in markets regulated by the CFTC and prohibited him from registering with the commission in the future.

It's first time i hear someone got permanently banned from certain type of trading. I recall those scammer usually got banned below 20 years.

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?

Because writing "dollar scam" makes them sound stupid, unless they aim to target reader who hate dollar or America government.

[hugeblack]

scammers will develop their plans. 10 years ago, scam was done in traditional ways and moved to cryptocurrencies and will continue, but our role is to make the cost of this scam higher so that scammer thinks that looking for a part-time or full-time job is much better than scam, and they will continue as long as it is an easy way to make money without effort.

[Lucius]

~snip~
In my own opinion, there is a need to revisit the laws against scams and increase the penalties x10 to serve as one of the best warnings to perpetrators to think x100 before victimizing people and their hard-earned money. On the other hand, I am just wondering...does the USA has an effective education program for people to understand well how to avoid these scams and not lose their money?

I completely agree with that, because if the fines are relatively small, then they do not serve as a deterrent from such activities, on the contrary, they encourage them. If people knew that they would get a minimum of 15 years or more in prison for such things, then there would surely be fewer "brave" ones who would still decide to try to be smarter than the system.

I don't think that the US has any special educational program that educates people on how to detect and avoid online scams, but I don't think that's the case in most countries either - it all boils down to occasional warnings through the media when a case like this appears.

+1

[MrSpasybo]

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?

In my own opinion, there is a need to revisit the laws against scams and increase the penalties x10 to serve as one of the best warnings to perpetrators to think x100 before victimizing people and their hard-earned money. On the other hand, I am just wondering...does the USA has an effective education program for people to understand well how to avoid these scams and not lose their money?

Currently, crypto market information is readily available on the internet. Investors can easily read up on it or participate in crypto forums to receive valuable advice from experienced investors. However, their greed remains unchanged, and they easily fall prey to Ponzi schemes.

I cannot assess the level of harm that Ponzi schemes inflict on society and thus propose penalties for them. Having witnessed the aftermath of Bitconnect, Ifan, and Pincoin Ponzi schemes in 2018, I hope that regulatory agencies will have teams that monitor and analyze the market to issue timely warnings about Ponzi schemes. At the same time, investors should be more cautious in the market and constantly seek information to better understand it, thereby dedicating time and capital to truly promising tokens such as BTC and ETH.

[Z-tight]

Scammers have been using fiat to perpetrate their ponzi schemes for a long time, long before they started using crypto, so yeah, but some people now believe that ponzi schemes are kind of crypto related, lol. Those who orchestrate schemes like these deserve to be punished, but can we talk about the victims who believe they can just hand over their money to someone and expect unrealistic returns after sometime.

[LogitechMouse]

---
This is the case of the case of William Koo Ichioka, a New York resident, who has been fined over $36 million plus another $5 million and 48 months of jail time for orchestrating a fraudulent cryptocurrency and forex investment scheme that promised unrealistic returns.

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?
---
does the USA has an effective education program for people to understand well how to avoid these scams and not lose their money?

It's the media, remember. I mean they've been using the term "crypto scams" for quite some time already, and as much as I want to say there's no negative effects of it, it seems like there's no negative effects of it in reality. I mean adoption is increasing, investors now are more intelligent than ever, and I believe people can make a simple research about it as well.

Speaking of investors being more intelligent, there are some who aren't intelligent at all hence, fell to this cheap tricks as well. What's good right now is that, the scammer got caught already, but it's a bit unfortunate to see people falling to this type of scam, and I expect more in the future because there will always be newcomers to investing on a daily basis that will most likely fall to this cheap tricks by these scammers.

The US doesn't have one IIRC, but they can create one if they wanted to. The problem is that, scammers can just adopt to it easily, and find another way to scam other investors.

[NotATether]

The bigger problem is that the governments around the world often do not find these Ponzi criminals fast enough before they close up shop and disappear, under the cloak of anonymity which means that they don't leave a trace after scamming everyone.

They need to do a better job looking for these scams and taking action since it is very often that they are posted publicly.

[robelneo]

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?

This paints a bad image on cryptocurrency. I think its time to have a law against media that gives false information about cryptocurrency. its very prevalent here in our country, which is why so many people are ignorant on what Cryptocurrency because of the bad image these media are putting on Cryptocurrency.

In my own opinion, there is a need to revisit the laws against scams and increase the penalties x10 to serve as one of the best warnings to perpetrators to think x100 before victimizing people and their hard-earned money. On the other hand, I am just wondering...does the USA has an effective education program for people to understand well how to avoid these scams and not lose their money?

I agree on that but if I take a case here in our country, the victims should be the one to file a case, and the perpetrators will just pay complainants to not push through with the case; if there are no complainants, there will be no case, I hope not only educating our people but the state should be the one to prosecute these scammers even if the complainants retract their complaints.

[Z-tight]

They need to do a better job looking for these scams and taking action since it is very often that they are posted publicly.

I don't think the government is going to go around looking for these ponzi criminals, even if they eventually get them, it will be after they must have scammed people. The victims should also do better and stop allowing their greed to get the better of them, these criminals are having a field day out there because they know that there are gullible people who will fall for their schemes.

[joniboini]

but the state should be the one to prosecute these scammers even if the complainants retract their complaints.

I think some people would argue that the risk of such a method being abused is higher. Are there cases of scammers getting away because a victim stops their complaints though? If we're talking about ponzi scheme or something similar I'm sure there'll be tons of victims ready to file other complaints against the scammers. I'm all for stopping scammers from getting away due to sloppy laws, so I'd like to see a better approach to take them down if getting a report is such a huge issue.

The victims should also do better and stop allowing their greed to get the better of them, these criminals are having a field day out there because they know that there are gullible people who will fall for their schemes.

While the governments can't guarantee anything, they should at least provide abundant educational resources so people can learn how people scam and avoid them.

[Faisal2202]

I hate it when the media describes something like this as a "crypto scam" when in fact the scam is just using crypto for pay for exchange of funds...hey we don't call a scam as a "dollar scam" when similar schemes are using the dollar, right?

Using the word crypto scam is not an issue in my opinion it's also the marketing of crypto, even if in a negative way. I know we don't need such marketing of crypto, but there are scams been happening in crypto and we can't deny that. But if the Ponzi Scam happened in forex currency and the exchange was only happening in crypto, then calling it a crypto scam is wrong and it should be called as forex scam instead.

Overall, we will not see a dollar scam even happen in any currency but we will see the term financial scam, etc. Mean words don't matter a lot here it is not targeting any specific currency like BTC or ETH the word has been used universally.