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Thai authorities arrest five in 3,200-victim, $27M crypto scam

September 11, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Authorities

Victims lost over $27 million worth of Thai bhat after investing in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform.

Authorities in Thailand arrested five foreign nationals linked with a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platform that fleeced over $27 million from local investors.

According to an initial report from the Bangkok Post, Thailand’s Cyber Crime Investigation (CCIB) Bureau arrested four individuals from China and one from Laos for orchestrating a fraudulent investment scheme that duped more than 3,200 locals.

The CCIB began investing the operation after affected investors came forward in late 2022, claiming that they had lost investments made through bchgloballtd.com with the assistance of the United States Homeland Security Investigations and other international law enforcement agencies.

The five accused were arrested and charged for colluding to commit transnational crime, public fraud and money laundering.

The Office of the Attorney General in Thailand moved to prosecute the suspects in August 2022, before the anti-money laundering office confiscated 585 million baht worth of personal property from the accused.

CCIB spokesperson Kissana Phathanacharoen said that investment schemes continue to cause the most financial damage of scams reported in the country. Victims are said to invest life savings into the schemes or take out finance on homes or property.

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission issued new requirements in Jan. 2023 for virtual asset service providers in the country aimed at increasing investor protecting and safeguarding user funds held by custody providers.

As a recent Cointelegraph report uncovered, scammers have gone as far as targeting MetaMask users using government-owned website URLs to trick victims and access their crypto wallet holdings.

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Sam Bankman-Fried is ‘under supervision’ in Bahamas, looking to flee to Dubai

November 12, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Alameda Research

It is understood that Sam Bankman-Fried and two former FTX associates are currently being detained by Bahamian authorities.

FTX former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder Gary Wang and director of engineering Nishad Singh are understood to be in the Bahamas and are “under supervision” by the local authorities.

The source familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph that the three former FTX executives, as well as Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, are looking for ways to flee to Dubai, which "doesn't have any extradition treaties" — likely in reference to the United States.

“Right now three of them, Sam, Gary, and Nishad are under supervision in the Bahamas. Which means it will be hard for them to leave,” a source familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph.

“I just got word that they were trying to get a way to get to Dubai which doesn’t have an extradition treaty.”

The source has also revealed that Ellison is currently in Hong Kong, “so she might be able to get to Dubai.”

A similar theory was discussed as part of a 16-hour-long Twitter Space hosted by Mario Nawfal, with a guest speaker claiming “trusted sources” have witnessed Bankman-Fried “in a locked space” with authorities in Albany Tower — a luxury resort located in New Providence in The Bahamas.

An unverified rumor also suggests that Bankman-Fried is currently joined by his father, Joseph Bankman.

Rumors that Bankman-Fried had been arrested on the tarmac at The Bahamas Airport made the rounds on Nov. 10 with evidence suggesting that Bankman-Fried’s private jet had been grounded for 40-minutes while on the way to Miami from Nassau.

On Nov. 12, rumors then pointed to Bankman-Fried having landed in Buenos Aires in the early hours of the day, after Twitter users tracked the coordinates of his private jet using the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange.

Later in the day, Bankman-Fried in a text message to Reuters denied speculation that he had fled to Argentina, claiming that he was still in the Bahamas.

The former FTX CEO is at the center of one of the industry’s biggest scandals.

A report from The Wall Street Journal on Nov. 9 suggested that the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the collapse of the crypto exchange.

The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) in the state of California announced on Nov. 10 that it will open up an investigation as to the “apparent failure” of the exchange.

Approximately 130 companies in the FTX Group, including FTX Trading, FTX US, and Alameda Research started bankruptcy proceedings on Nov. 11.

Authorities