U.S. DoJ charges 18 in a $25M cryptocurrency fraud operation, uncovering market manipulation through an FBI-led sting.
  • protist@mander.xyzEnglish
    210·
    21 days ago

    NexFundAI, as per information on the website, was marketed as redefining the “intersection between finance and artificial intelligence” and that its aim was to “create a cryptocurrency token that not only serves as a secure store of value but also acts as a catalyst for positive change in the world of AI.”

    Dude…hook, line, and sinker. FBI knows their target audience lol

    • Zozano@lemy.lolEnglish
      431·
      20 days ago

      COX: Drug traffickers love gizmos. They love gadgets. And if they have something like, ooh, the app is hidden behind a calculator, they think that’s amazing, and they want to buy it.

      TIL drug traffickers have the mindset of a teenage boy looking for ways to hide porn.

      • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.mlEnglish
        101·
        20 days ago

        They’re like regular people who don’t know our entire tech stack is fully sodomized by glowies. Basically every electronic object in your house is permasnitching your business to the state should and their vampite friends

  • Supervisor194@lemmy.worldEnglish
    543·
    21 days ago

    Now if only they could do the same with the stock market. But the conspiracy theorist in me believes that all this manipulation is being done hand in hand with certain arms of the government in order to maintain the government’s appearance of solvency and to control inflation in the face of what appears to be nearly unlimited spending. Just keep moving around fake money using a million different utterly opaque methods.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.caEnglish
      31·
      20 days ago

      People get convicted of fraud charges all the time. Archegos being probably the biggest non-Trump non-Crypto related cases of late.

      It’s just that if it’s a fraud conviction that’s not related to either Trump or crypto (and maybe soon Trump will be convicted of crypto related fraud!) it’s not big news.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      36·
      20 days ago

      nearly unlimited spending

      The great thing about currency is that it can change hands an infinite number of times and function the same as it did on day one.

      Just keep moving around fake money

      Laughing at my credit card company

      How can I owe you dollars when they’re all worthless?! Idiots!

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
    535·
    20 days ago

    Haha, I’ll give you 100 CocoCoins if you can define what makes a cryptocurrency “fake” rather than real.

    This headline should probably say “FBI create a cryptocurrency to expose…”

    That said there are only a few cryptocurrencies I would call worthy of note or respect.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
      152·
      20 days ago

      there are only a few cryptocurrencies I would call worthy of note or respect.

      The difference between a theist and an atheist is believing in one fewer God.

    • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
      310·
      19 days ago

      You make the point that this cannot happen but surely some really have the intention to make an e-currency that has long term, legal use?

      • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13·
        20 days ago

        I make the point that what cannot happen?

        I’m sorry, I just didn’t quite understand what you mean.

        • tabular@lemmy.worldEnglish
          33·
          20 days ago

          Seems I missed reading the last line where you said you would respect some cryptocurrencies. I misunderstood.

          • Cocodapuf@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            20 days ago

            All good.

            And yeah for the record, I do think Bitcoin is pretty brilliant and that Etherium has some real unique utility. I think there are definitely some others that are genuine attempts to do something useful, but few that have really achieved much so far.

  • Podunk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    371·
    20 days ago

    Lol at all the people deleting their comments or getting downvoted heavily. You are the target audience. This is either a warning to get your shit straight or nuke your hard drive. Dealers choice… Take a hint boys.

  • mightyfoolish@lemmy.worldEnglish
    25·
    20 days ago

    NexFundAI, as per information on the website, was marketed as redefining the “intersection between finance and artificial intelligence” and that its aim was to “create a cryptocurrency token that not only serves as a secure store of value but also acts as a catalyst for positive change in the world of AI.”

    Even though it’s not obvious it was a government run “scam”/operation this website screams scam.

      • ours@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        19 days ago

        Just like the “Nigerian prince scams”. Yes, they are obviously a scam to most of us. But to the few ignorant/naive people who don’t, they’re the victims worth pursuing by the scammers. We are not the audience.

  • Psythik@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    19 days ago

    I’m glad it’s just a bunch of rich assholes who went down, and not* people only doing this to survive. They get what they fucking deserve.

  • 01011@monero.townEnglish
    112·
    19 days ago

    Focus on cryptocurrency but ignore the blatant connivance on Wall Street. Sounds about right.

    • Kyrgizion@lemmy.worldEnglish
      25·
      21 days ago

      It’s called a honeypot. They even ran CP servers in the past (after taking them over from the actual admins, in order to unmask the users).

          • ltxrtquq@lemmy.mlEnglish
            6·
            20 days ago

            I really don’t think CSAM is a fake crime, but we can’t all be libertarians.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              20 days ago

              What does this have to do with libertarianism?

              I’m a libertarian, and I think honeypots are a fantastic idea! It makes enforcement of the law compatible with individual privacy, since the only data the agency would get is from people who willingly offer it. I may disagree with you on the definition of CSAM (e.g. pictures of actual kids vs AI-gen and human drawn images), but I absolutely think honeypots are the right way for police to enforce the law.

            • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.mlEnglish
              110·
              20 days ago

              You’ll have to open your eyes, how can you even believe this overused malarkey. This is just a blunt political assassination instrument. We invented it to kill the church, and it was funny. Fuck the church. But you’ve lost the plot if you think 1% of 1% of these supposed kids even exist. It’s largely a fabrication to eliminate inconvenient persons and send them to the slave pits. It’s a well oiled, if overused kompromat machine to keep the elites in check.

              Can we please just nuke Russia ASAP so I can get the MAD ending I was promised to this circus while growing up.

      • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        11·
        20 days ago

        Agent 1: We just nabbed a gang of child abusers!

        Agent 2: We found out your MAGA uncle is a really bad “investor”.

        I feel like Agent 1 is far more worthwhile.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4·
          20 days ago

          They’re both worthwhile. Agent 2 is more like “We found out your uncle was pumping a security by making fraudulent claims in order to dump it later and screw them all over.”

  • Max-P@lemmy.max-p.meEnglish
    1042·
    21 days ago

    Why does the government keep trying to regular fake Internet money? The whole point of it was that it was a free for all. Who the fuck cares if crypto bros get fucked, if you want real securities you go to a real bank and open a real investment account.