FBI Places $100K Bounty On ‘Cryptoqueen’, Places Her In FBI Top 10 Most Wanted List As She Scams Investors For $4B

OneCoin Creator, ‘Cryptoqueen’ Joins FBI Top 10 Most Wanted List.

The FBI, in a statement on Thursday, revealed that Ruja Ignatova, co-creator of OneCoin, a fake cryptocurrency project, has been added to its most-wanted list.

Ruja Ignatova is the newest addition to the #FBI‘s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. She’s #wanted for allegedly leading a fraud scheme that affected millions of investors worldwide. We’re offering a reward of up to $100,000 for info leading to her arrest. https://t.co/5mk0NccE7x pic.twitter.com/xKoj0RN6BZ

— FBI (@FBI) June 30, 2022

Ruja Ignatova created OneCoin in 2014 with her partner, touting the project as a Bitcoin competitor. However, the FBI alleges that from 2014 to 2017, Ignatova had scammed investors of about $4 billion.

Despite claiming to be a cryptocurrency, it is worth noting that the OneCoin project failed to exhibit some of the key characteristics of crypto. After taking advantage of the hype and almost cult following surrounding the crypto market, Ignatova was able to sell the idea of a private blockchain with multi-level marketing promotional tactics. Additionally, the creators set the OneCoin price instead of supply and demand market forces.

“OneCoin claimed to have a private blockchain,” explained Special Agent Ronald Shimko, an investigator on the case at the FBI’s New York Field Office. “This is in contrast to other virtual currencies, which have a decentralized and public blockchain. In this case, investors were just asked to trust OneCoin.”

Ignatova was last seen fleeing from Bulgaria to Greece in October 2017. The FBI suspects someone tipped off the wanted fugitive that law enforcement was on to her as she has not been seen since. Ignatova is facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and securities fraud. 

In addition, the FBI has offered the public a $100,000 reward for information leading to her arrest.

“There are so many victims all over the world who were financially devastated by this. We want to bring her to justice,” surmised Special Agent Shimko.

Unsurprisingly, scammers have become increasingly interested in the crypto space with the increased fanfare and market value. A report by the Federal Trade Commission in June shows that losses to crypto scams have surpassed $1 billion since 2021. In addition, the number of reported losses to fraud has grown 60 times since 2018.

However, it is worth noting that law enforcement and the US DOJ also appear to have become more adept at tackling these crimes. Two headline-grabbing cases this year include the arrest of the Frosties NFT creators and the seizure of 700 BTC from an individual suspected of selling people’s private online data.

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