Emerging details of a scam by cryptocurrency trading app iEarn Bot may prove to be one of the biggest in the industry to date.
Originally reported by BBC, the iEarn Bot saga is one that has mostly slipped by unnoticed by media.
The broadcaster has contacted numerous anonymous investors in the app who claim to have lost thousands of euros.
While the sum may appear small, iEarn Bot may span a million-strong network of customers.
In Indonesia alone, the app claims to have 800,000 customers according to Silvia Tabusca, a Romanian organized crime expert from the European Center for Legal Education and Research.
Tabusca is one of the people looking into the app and the potential nefarious affairs at foot.
The BBC too has been investigating, reporting that there were discrepancies between what the company claimed on its website and what was happening in reality.
For one, the company’s putative founder said he had no idea that this company existed or that his name had been associated with it.
iEarn Bot makes even bolder claims on its website, naming the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, alongside companies such as Huawei and Qualcomm as some of its partners.
iEarn Bot provides no contact information, but the app seems to be run with some degree of success, perhaps mostly because it has kept a low profile and not made any bold claims while managing to reach a growing number of retail customers and investors.
The BBC claims it has obtained chats that show an alleged discussion with customer support agents from iEarn Bot.
The agents ask customers to pay a 30% fee before they can withdraw their money – a classic crypto scam move, echoing the recent warnings of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that criminals are tricking customers into installing and investing into apps.
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