Hideo Nakamura Ukrainian police have found out about a money scam from Russia which made lots of American dollars. The scam tricked people into giving away their money, in the form of both real money and cryptocurrency, by saying there were opportunities for making high returns on investments in large companies worldwide.
The Fight Against the Multimillion Dollar Scam “Life is Good” in Ukraine
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) recently announced that they have stopped a scam called ‘Life Is Good’, where fraudsters tried to convince people to invest their money in something called global enterprises, which had the promise of multiplying their wealth.
The people behind the huge fraud scheme made around $40 million by fooling more than 1,000 people. The victims were asked to send their money straight to the crooks’ crypto wallets and bank accounts.
Life Is Good set up a website for fake investments. Customers were offered deals which said they would be given profits and bonuses if they could get other people to join the project.
The Ukrainian police say there are more than 10 people in this criminal group, most of them from Russia. This money-making scheme started in Russia in 2017, but also had a part operating in Ukraine.
After Russia began their big invasion in February 2022, the people behind this plan tried to hide what they had done. This was done by setting up a system which allowed them to get money from cryptocurrency exchanges all over Ukraine.
The SBU officers, together with Ukrainian police and prosecutors, looked through Life Is Good’s Kyiv offices. They took away computers, phones, accounting documents, and other proofs of possible crimes as well as promotional materials.
Ukraine, which supports cryptocurrencies a lot, is training its law enforcement people to be able to use cryptocurrency. The Cyberpolice, the Asset Recovery and Management Agency, and the Ukrainian SBU were provided classes by Binance who are the biggest when it comes to digital assets.
Last November, the Cyberpolice (the country’s unit that fights cybercrimes) stopped a crypto fraud that was making around $207 million every year. The people behind this were using offices and call centers in Europe to get investors’ money.
Why do you think the fraudsters kept working even though there was a war? Let us know your thoughts about this case in the comments section!
The picture used in this story was taken from Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons and SBU websites.
