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60,000 Germans believed in the supposed cryptocurrency OneCoin. Your money is gone. How could that happen? Part of the answer can be found in the FinCEN archives.
Around 60,000 people in Germany alone are said to have fallen in love with a fictitious virtual currency called OneCoin – around 3.5 million people around the world. Today, German prosecutors are investigating a large number of defendants.
The incredible sum of $ 15 billion in damages. The money is gone. And with him: the head behind everything, the German-Bulgarian Ruja Ignatova. How could that happen? BuzzFeed News Deutschland *, part of the Ippen-Digital network, has the answers.
OneCoin: like the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, only completely different
The idea behind OneCoin is simple – in the early 2010s there was quite a stir over the crypto digital currency Bitcoin, which was new at the time and rapidly increasing in value. Ruja Ignatova acknowledges that many people are afraid of having missed the exit. This is why Ignatova and her colleagues invent OneCoin.
- FinCEN-Files: Full BuzzFeed News Investigation into Made-Up Coin OneCoin. *
But different from BitCoin OneCoin is not a real cryptocurrency at all. With real cryptocurrencies, there is a system that prevents fraud with the currency: the so-called blockchain. OneCoin also claimed to have such a blockchain. But that was not true. Without blockchain there is no control, and the people behind OneCoin could set the price of OneCoin themselves. Of course, it always went up and never fell.
In response to detailed questions from BuzzFeed Germany News neither Ignatova nor her colleagues nor the companies behind OneCoin responded.
- There are more international research results in the history of the disclosure of the “FinCEN Archives” on BuzzFeed News Germany. *
- BuzzFeed Germany News shows suspicious payments at Commerzbank in numerous cases. *
The name “OneCoin” can also be found on file with FinCEN, the US financial regulator’s suspicious money laundering transaction reports. BuzzFeed News had published with more than 100 editorial offices. The minds behind OneCoin also took advantage of the gaps in the system and founded mailbox companies on the assembly line.
Thousands of independent sales partners organized the OneCoin distribution. OneCoin comes as a cryptocurrency, but it is traded through recommendation marketing.. Whoever buys must also attract new buyers. Each time advertisers earn a small commission. If the recruits bring a new OneCoiner, you also earn from your sales.
- FinCEN-FIles: How did the BuzzFeed News reporters investigate all this?
Marcus Engert of BuzzFeed News addressed the dubious sources of money from big banks in the extensive investigation of the FinCen archives.
© Stefan Beetz / sbeetz.com
Internal statistics show: between 2015 and 2016 it was decided whether OneCoin would only steal a few million euros or become one of the largest alleged fraud cases in history. Could the authorities have acted earlier?
- What are FinCEN files? Here you will find answers to the most important questions about FinCEN files. *
- What type of documents were evaluated in the FinCEN archives? *
You can read the full investigation into what is possibly one of the largest fraud cases of the last decades and the German involvement in the alleged fraud in the FinCEN archives overview at BuzzFeed News Germany *
* BuzzFeed News Germany is part of the Ippen-Digital network. Reporters continue to investigate OneCoin and similar cases of suspected fraud. Do you have any information or are you affected? Then register confidentially at [email protected].
Rubriklistenbild: © picture alliance / Helmut Fohringer / APA / dpa
