The idea to start a crypto investing platform was like a vision from God
June 8, 2024 1:13 AM Subscribe
“The defendants marketed to investors most in need of income and least able to afford a loss by advertising their schemes as a train to ‘financial freedom’ and ‘freedom from the plantation,’” the suit said. “Cynthia Petion knew that ‘it’s never the ones who grew up rich who invest in these programs.’” from ‘Jesus was the best affiliate marketer in the world’: How a ‘Reverend CEO’ allegedly stole $1 billion in a crypto scam [MarketWatch]
Attorney General James Sues Cryptocurrency Companies NovaTechFx and AWS Mining for Defrauding Investors of More Than $1 Billion [NYAG]
New York Sues Novatech Over $1 Billion Crypto Pyramid Scheme [Finance Feeds]
Attorney General James Sues Cryptocurrency Companies NovaTechFx and AWS Mining for Defrauding Investors of More Than $1 Billion [NYAG]
New York Sues Novatech Over $1 Billion Crypto Pyramid Scheme [Finance Feeds]
GOD I love Tish James.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:42 AM on June 8 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 2:42 AM on June 8 [2 favorites]
"The profits won't be huge, and will decline every month though unless you continually put money back into the operation." [quora]
posted by HearHere at 3:44 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]
posted by HearHere at 3:44 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]
But it was all a scam — a smoothly-run Ponzi scheme that targeted tens of thousands of investors, mostly poor immigrants, said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
...
"People join and follow mindlessly… They don’t think. They just agree with everything you say,” the suit quoted Petion as telling a deputy, describing herself as a “zookeeper.”
wow fuuuck these two.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 6:50 AM on June 8 [5 favorites]
...
"People join and follow mindlessly… They don’t think. They just agree with everything you say,” the suit quoted Petion as telling a deputy, describing herself as a “zookeeper.”
wow fuuuck these two.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 6:50 AM on June 8 [5 favorites]
People who don't understand why I was so harsh on the people arguing on this site a couple years ago that access to crypto was important for poor people are cordially invited to read all of this.
posted by praemunire at 8:54 AM on June 8 [18 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 8:54 AM on June 8 [18 favorites]
Courtesy of Molly White's Web3 Is Going Just Great, the crypto-watch site, this is not long after an executive of The Epoch Times, associated with Falun Gong, was indicted for a crypto money laundering scam.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:28 AM on June 8 [7 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:28 AM on June 8 [7 favorites]
Between this and that jellyfish FPP I'm never talking to anybody or going anywhere again. I can't find much about Eddie, but Cynthia is a real piece of sociopathic work. There's tons of good (old) and bad (recent) information about her, including this "my greatest flaw is that I care too much" interview at a submission-only "news site." There are literally not enough scare quotes in the world to handle describing this fraud.
posted by rhizome at 10:06 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]
posted by rhizome at 10:06 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]
$1 billion is an awful lot of money to steal via a Ponzi scheme in such a short time and informal manner. Madoff's scheme was $65 billion but was running for forty years and had a significant veneer of business legitimacy. FTX, the recent enormous cryptoscam, lost about $8B of its customers' money (the company itself was valued at $32B at one point.) Mt. Gox, the very first high profile cryptoscam, was about $0.5B.
Affiliate fraud is powerful. That this one targeted poor immigrants is absolutely disgusting. As praemunire says, a lot of cryptoscam advocates who were going on about "access to wealth for the poor" have a lot to answer for.
posted by Nelson at 10:25 AM on June 8 [3 favorites]
Affiliate fraud is powerful. That this one targeted poor immigrants is absolutely disgusting. As praemunire says, a lot of cryptoscam advocates who were going on about "access to wealth for the poor" have a lot to answer for.
posted by Nelson at 10:25 AM on June 8 [3 favorites]
Such a pity. If these people wanted to invest in the burgeoning digital asset market, all they needed to do was buy and self-custody bitcoin.
promising returns of up to 200% within a year.
Greed really does disable common sense for many people.
posted by neonamber at 9:35 PM on June 8 [1 favorite]
promising returns of up to 200% within a year.
Greed really does disable common sense for many people.
posted by neonamber at 9:35 PM on June 8 [1 favorite]
Such a pity. If these people wanted to invest in the burgeoning digital asset market, all they needed to do was buy and self-custody bitcoin.
What an incredibly tone-deaf thing to say. “These idiots didn’t do it the Right Way”.
But since you’re here, neonamber, and are one of our local and most persistent crypto shills, who has personally advocated for crypto banking for the poor here in prior threads, maybe you have something to say for how it works out in real-world practice. Here, like this, where they get scammed for everything. “They just needed to pick one which wasn’t a scam” will be treated (at least by me) as the victim blaming that it is.
posted by notoriety public at 10:20 AM on June 9 [11 favorites]
What an incredibly tone-deaf thing to say. “These idiots didn’t do it the Right Way”.
But since you’re here, neonamber, and are one of our local and most persistent crypto shills, who has personally advocated for crypto banking for the poor here in prior threads, maybe you have something to say for how it works out in real-world practice. Here, like this, where they get scammed for everything. “They just needed to pick one which wasn’t a scam” will be treated (at least by me) as the victim blaming that it is.
posted by notoriety public at 10:20 AM on June 9 [11 favorites]
Greed really does disable common sense for many people.
In your rush to blame the victims you might want to consider a little sympathy for them and how the scammer exploited them:
posted by Nelson at 4:10 PM on June 9 [3 favorites]
In your rush to blame the victims you might want to consider a little sympathy for them and how the scammer exploited them:
They targeted minority communities, Haitians in particular, in prayer groups and WhatsApp group chats with advertisements in Creole, and religious messages that appealed to their faith. ...Affiliate fraud is not new. But the ability to conduct so very easily with unregulated fake currencies is novel and being abused time and time again.
"Most Haitians in the Hudson Valley have walked weeks, months through the jungles of Central American countries to come to America looking for a better future for themselves and their family members ... Some have even been forced out of Haiti due to violence, they didn't come to America to be taken advantage of."
posted by Nelson at 4:10 PM on June 9 [3 favorites]
But since you’re here, neonamber, and are one of our local and most persistent crypto shills, who has personally advocated for crypto banking for the poor here in prior threads, maybe you have something to say for how it works out in real-world practice.
I derive no pleasure from nor blame these people for being fleeced. Most scams use fear or greed to override peoples sense of caution. Promises of wildly high returns IS a massive red flag and given the frequency of scams globally we absolutely should be discussing these methods of manipulation.
These people clearly wanted to invest in the emerging digital asset industry and it really saddens me that scammers took them for a ride, particularly when, as US residents or citizens they had easy access to legitimate digital assets.
In the real-world people are investing in emerging digital assets and those choosing unregulated, non-custodial and centralised offerings, like the NovaTech scam, are taking massive risks in comparison to those choosing to directly self-custody a genuinely decentralised asset like bitcoin. These distinctions have real consequences and are worth mentioning. Anyone making any investment should be performing thorough due diligence of their intended investment, the supporting technologies, the wider market and competitors.
posted by neonamber at 12:24 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
I derive no pleasure from nor blame these people for being fleeced. Most scams use fear or greed to override peoples sense of caution. Promises of wildly high returns IS a massive red flag and given the frequency of scams globally we absolutely should be discussing these methods of manipulation.
These people clearly wanted to invest in the emerging digital asset industry and it really saddens me that scammers took them for a ride, particularly when, as US residents or citizens they had easy access to legitimate digital assets.
In the real-world people are investing in emerging digital assets and those choosing unregulated, non-custodial and centralised offerings, like the NovaTech scam, are taking massive risks in comparison to those choosing to directly self-custody a genuinely decentralised asset like bitcoin. These distinctions have real consequences and are worth mentioning. Anyone making any investment should be performing thorough due diligence of their intended investment, the supporting technologies, the wider market and competitors.
posted by neonamber at 12:24 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
These people clearly wanted to invest in the emerging digital asset industry
More like "these people were clearly talked into investing in the emerging digital asset industry by con artists", wouldn't you say?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:47 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
More like "these people were clearly talked into investing in the emerging digital asset industry by con artists", wouldn't you say?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:47 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
In response to an FPP about an affiliate crypto scam we have comments bemoaning how this besmirches the “emerging digital asset industry”. I guess AI really has destroyed the Internet because I genuinely can’t tell if this is a crypto shill bot or not.
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:12 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
posted by star gentle uterus at 7:12 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
wouldn't you say?
More like: Cynthia, the contemptible cu..lprit credited for crafting this conniving confabulation, charmed congregations with commitments composed in Creole and convincingly cloaked in compassion to convert crypto into continuous coinage. Concealed in the company was colossal criminal conduct channelling cash into comfortable citadels and c-class coupes. Cynthia carefully cut clear of custodial confinement by changing to a country convenient for convicts circumventing consequences using copious cash and is currently cavorting carefree while customers complain and consider court cases to conceivably claw credit from criminal coffers. Can cops capture this crooked character? Cultivated community is certainly concerned and critical of crypto, courageously counting carbon as a controversial commenter counsels coin custody then concocts a composition constructed from a cluster of consecutive characters.
posted by neonamber at 9:37 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
More like: Cynthia, the contemptible cu..lprit credited for crafting this conniving confabulation, charmed congregations with commitments composed in Creole and convincingly cloaked in compassion to convert crypto into continuous coinage. Concealed in the company was colossal criminal conduct channelling cash into comfortable citadels and c-class coupes. Cynthia carefully cut clear of custodial confinement by changing to a country convenient for convicts circumventing consequences using copious cash and is currently cavorting carefree while customers complain and consider court cases to conceivably claw credit from criminal coffers. Can cops capture this crooked character? Cultivated community is certainly concerned and critical of crypto, courageously counting carbon as a controversial commenter counsels coin custody then concocts a composition constructed from a cluster of consecutive characters.
posted by neonamber at 9:37 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
.....Y'know, the world already has one Alan Moore, there's been no call for people to be another.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:13 AM on June 10 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:13 AM on June 10 [2 favorites]
I genuinely can’t tell if this is a crypto shill bot or not.
Come on. What kind of abstinence only bubble policing culture is this?
Bemoan the poor manipulated kind hearted folk for not knowing better. How could they have known?
Mention the most rudimentary safeguard possible to own a crypto asset without ending up exploited? Goodness no, that's cRyPtO sHiLlInG!
The people who fell for this scam went through the bulk of the steps needed to purchase and independently own these assets. Had they done nothing more than come to their senses right before sending sending the crypto off to the scammers they stood a reasonable chance of actually walking away with a profit instead. That's what prompted me to comment, the tragedy that these poor folk could have avoided ruin with an opportune moment of pause and reassessment.
I guess the correct response is to be harsh to others here who make the slightest mention of crypto in anything other than negative light. That'll fix it.
posted by neonamber at 10:48 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
Come on. What kind of abstinence only bubble policing culture is this?
Bemoan the poor manipulated kind hearted folk for not knowing better. How could they have known?
Mention the most rudimentary safeguard possible to own a crypto asset without ending up exploited? Goodness no, that's cRyPtO sHiLlInG!
The people who fell for this scam went through the bulk of the steps needed to purchase and independently own these assets. Had they done nothing more than come to their senses right before sending sending the crypto off to the scammers they stood a reasonable chance of actually walking away with a profit instead. That's what prompted me to comment, the tragedy that these poor folk could have avoided ruin with an opportune moment of pause and reassessment.
I guess the correct response is to be harsh to others here who make the slightest mention of crypto in anything other than negative light. That'll fix it.
posted by neonamber at 10:48 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
Self-custody is also pretty risky. Ubuntu has had a problem with wallets offered though their SNAP distribution channel that steal cryptocoins. And people are vulnerable to social engineering and computers do get hacked. Better to not own any cryptocoins in the first place.
posted by mscibing at 11:21 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
posted by mscibing at 11:21 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]
Mention the most rudimentary safeguard possible to own a crypto asset without ending up exploited? Goodness no, that's cRyPtO sHiLlInG!
Yes, that’s accurate.
I guess the correct response is to be harsh to others here who make the slightest mention of crypto in anything other than negative light. That'll fix it.
Yes, that’s accurate.
Peddle your scams elsewhere.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:29 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
Yes, that’s accurate.
I guess the correct response is to be harsh to others here who make the slightest mention of crypto in anything other than negative light. That'll fix it.
Yes, that’s accurate.
Peddle your scams elsewhere.
posted by star gentle uterus at 11:29 AM on June 10 [7 favorites]
Peddle your scams elsewhere.
How, pray tell, am I supposedly making money from this alleged scam considering the statistically insignificant number of people likely to ever read this aging post?
I'm just here to participate in the conversation with my own informed perspective. Some people here actually use this tech.
If you want to continue this exchange just message me directly. Because.
posted by neonamber at 9:49 PM on June 10 [1 favorite]
How, pray tell, am I supposedly making money from this alleged scam considering the statistically insignificant number of people likely to ever read this aging post?
I'm just here to participate in the conversation with my own informed perspective. Some people here actually use this tech.
If you want to continue this exchange just message me directly. Because.
posted by neonamber at 9:49 PM on June 10 [1 favorite]
Had they done nothing more than come to their senses right before sending sending the crypto off to the scammers they stood a reasonable chance of actually walking away with a profit instead
I think this is as good for support as any that "clearly" was the furthest thing from any of the actions these people took.
posted by rhizome at 2:55 AM on June 11 [1 favorite]
I think this is as good for support as any that "clearly" was the furthest thing from any of the actions these people took.
posted by rhizome at 2:55 AM on June 11 [1 favorite]
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posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 2:33 AM on June 8 [1 favorite]