Some of you may have heard that students in UAB’s Investigating Online Crimes class have been researching Crypto Investment Scam websites. You can find a list of some of the sites we’ve identified so far on URLScan.io using our tag “CryptoScam” (as of this writing we have 3600+ sites on the list — hosting companies and registrars, please take action!)
Mirror Trading International and a $3.4 Billion Fine
You may have never heard of the U.S. Government agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have power. Last week the CFTC announced an order of default judgment against Cornelius Johannes Steynberg of Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa. The order states that Steynberg must pay $1,733,838,372 USD in restitution and an additional $1,733,838,372 as a civil monetary penalty for defrauding 23,000 Americans of 29,421 Bitcoin. (That’s $3.4 Billion USD, or R63.6 Billion South African Rand.)
I’m proud to say that this action was brought in part by the Alabama Securities Commission, who joined Texas, North Carolina, and Mississippi in taking action. I’ve met their director (who just retired this week! Thank you Joe Borg for 30 years of service!) and some of their investigators and they fight hard to protect the citizens of Alabama from fraud.
Mirror Trading International claimed that their members could earn 10% per month in interest on their investments. A typical ad of theirs boasted of this advantage over traditional bank accounts and other investment vehicles:
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