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Top Ontario California Car Dealerships for New & Used Cars

When searching for a reliable car dealership in Ontario, California, finding a trustworthy partner for your next vehicle purchase is key. Whether you're looking for a shiny new ride or a dependable pre-owned car, Ontario offers a wide selection of dealerships catering to various preferences and budgets. In this guide, we’ll explore the top Ontario California car dealerships known for their quality inventory, exceptional customer service, and competitive prices.

Why Choose Ontario California Car Dealerships?

Ontario, California, is a bustling hub for car buyers, offering a range of dealerships that stock everything from economy sedans to luxury SUVs. The city’s strategic location and diverse population make it a hotspot for automotive sales, ensuring a competitive market with plenty of choices. Here’s why buyers flock to Ontario for their car needs:

Diverse Inventory: Ontario dealerships offer vehicles from top brands, including Toyota, Ford, Honda, and luxury marques like Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Competitive Pricing: With multiple dealerships vying for customers, you’ll often find better deals and financing options.

Convenient Access: Ontario’s proximity to major highways makes it easy for buyers from surrounding areas to visit.

Expert Services: Many dealerships offer full-service centers, financing options, and certified pre-owned programs.

Let’s dive into some of the best dealerships in Ontario, California, for both new and used cars.

1. Toyota of Ontario

If you’re in the market for a dependable Toyota, Toyota of Ontario is a top choice. Known for its vast selection of new and pre-owned vehicles, this dealership has earned a reputation for excellent customer service.

Why Choose Toyota of Ontario?

Offers popular Toyota models like the Camry, Corolla, RAV4, and Tacoma.

Certified Pre-Owned Toyota vehicles come with warranties and roadside assistance.

Financing options for various credit situations.

Location: 1375 S Auto Center Drive, Ontario, CA

Highlights: Regular promotions, trade-in offers, and an on-site service center.

2. Crown Lexus

For luxury car enthusiasts, Crown Lexus stands out as a premier dealership in Ontario. They specialize in selling and servicing Lexus vehicles, known for their sophistication and reliability.

Why Choose Crown Lexus?

Offers a wide selection of new Lexus models like the RX, ES, and NX.

Certified Pre-Owned Lexus inventory ensures quality and peace of mind.

Customer-focused experience with VIP perks.

Location: 1125 Kettering Drive, Ontario, CA

Highlights: Complimentary maintenance for new buyers, flexible leasing options, and a luxurious showroom experience.

3. Mercedes-Benz of Ontario

If you’re looking for unparalleled luxury and performance, Mercedes-Benz of Ontario is an excellent destination. This dealership offers new and used Mercedes-Benz vehicles, emphasizing superior service.

Why Choose Mercedes-Benz of Ontario?

Features new models like the C-Class, GLE, and E-Class, along with pre-owned options.

Offers certified pre-owned vehicles with comprehensive warranty coverage.

Exceptional financing and leasing programs.

Location: 3787 East Guasti Road, Ontario, CA

Highlights: On-site repairs, extended warranties, and a customer lounge.

4. John Elway's Crown Toyota

John Elway’s Crown Toyota has built a loyal customer base in Ontario with its extensive inventory and commitment to transparency.

Why Choose Crown Toyota?

Known for competitive pricing on both new and used Toyota vehicles.

Trade-in services and flexible financing options are available.

Top-rated customer service for first-time buyers.

Location: 1201 Kettering Drive, Ontario, CA

Highlights: No-pressure sales approach and a dedicated team to handle all aspects of your car-buying journey.

5. Ontario Hyundai

For those interested in reliable and budget-friendly cars, Ontario Hyundai is a fantastic choice. This dealership specializes in Hyundai vehicles, which are known for their affordability and excellent warranties.

Why Choose Ontario Hyundai?

A wide selection of new models like the Elantra, Tucson, and Santa Fe.

Certified Pre-Owned program with a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.

Competitive lease offers and financing programs.

Location: 1307 Kettering Drive, Ontario, CA

Highlights: Regular sales events, trade-in assistance, and a knowledgeable staff.

6. Enterprise Car Sales Ontario

If you’re looking for a quality pre-owned vehicle, Enterprise Car Sales offers a hassle-free buying experience. They specialize in late-model used cars with a no-haggle pricing policy.

Why Choose Enterprise Car Sales?

A wide selection of pre-owned vehicles from various brands.

Transparent pricing with no hidden fees.

Every car undergoes rigorous inspection and comes with a limited warranty.

Location: 2345 E Airport Drive, Ontario, CA

Highlights: Easy trade-in process and financing options for all credit types.

7. Rock Honda

Rock Honda is a go-to dealership for Honda enthusiasts. They offer a wide array of new and used Honda vehicles, backed by stellar customer service.

Why Choose Rock Honda?

Features new models like the Accord, Civic, and CR-V.

Pre-owned Honda vehicles that are Honda-certified for added peace of mind.

Competitive financing and leasing options.

Location: 16570 S Highland Avenue, Fontana, CA (close to Ontario)

Highlights: Special offers for first-time buyers and military personnel.

8. Metro Nissan of Montclair

Though technically located in Montclair, Metro Nissan is just a short drive from Ontario and is highly rated for its vast inventory and exceptional service.

Why Choose Metro Nissan?

Offers new models like the Altima, Rogue, and Titan, along with used vehicles.

Certified Pre-Owned program includes warranties and a detailed inspection report.

Regular promotions and lease deals.

Location: 9440 Autoplex Street, Montclair, CA

Highlights: Award-winning service department and easy online purchasing tools.

9. Ontario Auto Center

Ontario Auto Center is a collective of multiple dealerships, making it a one-stop shop for car buyers. This auto mall houses dealers for brands like Ford, Chevrolet, Honda, and Jeep.

Why Choose Ontario Auto Center?

Convenient access to multiple brands and a wide range of vehicles.

Centralized location for test drives and financing discussions.

Special events and sales throughout the year.

Location: Auto Center Drive, Ontario, CA

Highlights: Comprehensive inventory, trade-in services, and family-friendly environment.

Tips for Buying a Car in Ontario, California

Navigating Ontario California car dealerships can feel overwhelming with so many options available. Here are some tips to make the process smoother:

Research Online: Visit dealership websites to view their inventory, pricing, and current promotions.

Set a Budget: Know how much you’re willing to spend, and factor in taxes, fees, and potential financing costs.

Schedule Test Drives: Always test drive a vehicle to ensure it meets your expectations.

Negotiate Smartly: While some dealerships offer no-haggle pricing, others may be open to negotiation.

Check for Certified Pre-Owned Options: These vehicles offer the reliability of a new car at a lower cost.

Conclusion

Ontario, California, is home to some of the best car dealerships in the region, offering an impressive variety of new and used vehicles to fit any lifestyle or budget. From luxury brands like Lexus and Mercedes-Benz to reliable options like Toyota and Hyundai, these dealerships provide top-notch service, financing options, and certified pre-owned programs to ensure a seamless buying experience.

Whether you’re a first-time buyer or upgrading your current vehicle, exploring Ontario California car dealerships is a surefire way to find your dream car. Visit these dealerships today and drive home in a vehicle that perfectly suits your needs!

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Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe

Gone are the days when shady dealings in crypto were perceived as immune to the clutches of law enforcement.

Illicit crypto proceeds can be shuttled between wallet addresses at the click of a mouse, and their obfuscation behind the multiple strings of numbers and letters of wallet addresses can create a dizzying — if not impenetrable — cryptographic maze for authorities to navigate.

But the criminals themselves present a more concrete target, and as they interface with everything from crafty code to unwieldy hardware to ‘traditional’ firearms, there has been some success in 2018 in nabbing some of the year’s darkest — and most imaginative — offenders.

From soap actors to former lawmakers, Cointelegraph takes stock of some of the most illustrious arrests of the figures behind crypto’s high crimes and misdemeanours this year.

Foiled supercomputer Bitcoin heist in Russian nuclear no-man’s land

In February, Russian security agents scored a coup against a group of nuclear engineers at a top-secret nuclear warhead facility who tried to use one of the country’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

The engineers worked at the Federal Nuclear Center in the western city of Sarov — formerly one of the Soviet Union’s closed-off cities, unmarked on historic maps and shrouded in secrecy.

As one of the Soviet “closed administrative territorial entities,” Sarov was then known as Arzamas-16, and was the center of research and production for the first Soviet atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb under Joseph Stalin. Special permits are still required today for ordinary Russians to visit it.

With such a stellar off-grid history, you’d think the Bitcoin-hungry nuclear engineers might have suspected that connecting the site’s supercomputer — a 1 petaflop titan with a capacity for 1,000 trillion calculations per second — to the internet might draw just a little attention.

As soon as the engineers tried to bring it online, the security department was alerted and was able to foil the scientists, who were peremptorily handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Tatiana Zalesskaya, the head of the press service for the research institute, told the Interfax news agency that that the attempt was a “technically hopeless and criminally punishable offense.”

A criminal case was reportedly duly opened against them.

Contentiously, it has been alleged that the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 was produced in Sarov, which houses a plant that is said to be the “world’s only commercial producer of the substance,” according to evidence presented before a court in the United Kingdom.

Sarov’s rogue scientists are not the only ones to have thought of using former Soviet military spaces for crypto mining. The Ice Rock Mining firm has plans to — legally — set up mining operations in a former Soviet bunker located in a cave in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Caught in the headlights: Thai actor “Boom” arrested on set for alleged crypto fraud family affair

This summer, reports emerged tied to the story of a Finnish millionaire allegedly fooled by a Thai crypto investment scam — to the tune of Bitcoin worth 797 million baht ($24.62 million) at the time.

According to the Thai Crime Suppression Division (CSD), the 22-year-old Finn, identified as Aarni Otava Saarimaa, claimed he had been lured into investing his Bitcoin into several companies, a casino and the gambling-focused crypto token Dragon Coin.

Saarima’s business partner, the Thai businessman Chonnikan Kaeosali, reportedly first approached the CSD in January this year, outlining how the pair had been drawn to purchase shares in three firms — Expay Group, NX Chain Inc. and DNA 2002 Plc — that were purported to be investors in Dragon Coin. He said they had first been approached in connection with the affair by a local Thai group back in June 2017.

The fraudsters are said to have taken their would-be victims around a Macau-based casino where they claimed the gambling-focused token would soon be used. Saarima subsequently transferred his crypto but never saw returns, shareholder papers nor any proof of investment in Dragon Coin.

As the CSD’s investigations unfolded, they identified a group of nine suspects — three of whom were revealed to be a group of siblings from the Jaravijit family. The suspects are said to have swiftly sold the crypto for local fiat currency, dispersing the spoils between various bank accounts.

It was the arrest of one of the siblings this summer — a dapper 27-year-old soap-opera star known as Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit — that first brought the case to public light.  

On Aug. 9, Boom was taken into custody on money laundering charges in the midst of filming at the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Local media noted it was the day after the star’s birthday.

It was alleged that the actor had colluded with his siblings to launder the swindled money, after investigations revealed they had bought 14 plots of land worth 176 million baht ($5.44 million).

Boom’s brother, Prinya Jaravijit, is said to have been the ringleader of the scheme, having reportedly received a tip-off from a Thai banker about the wealthy Finn and then setting the heist in motion. Prinya has reportedly fled to South Korea, while Boom’s sister is said to have made contact with the CSD to turn herself in.

The CSD has sought arrest warrants for a further six suspects and frozen a total of 51 different bank accounts in addition to the siblings’ land.

Boom was temporarily released on a 2 million baht ($61,827) bail bond on the condition that he would not leave the country, having argued that his arrest on set in a public place was ample proof he had not been intending to flee.

Earlier this month, another Jaravijit sibling turned himself in to deny the fraud charges, while police met two further suspects: Prasit Srisuwan, a well-known stock trader, and Chakris Ahmad.

Boom’s parents, Mr. Suwit and Ms. Lertchatkamol, have also been questioned after police traced that 90 million baht ($2.78 million) had been transferred to their accounts. Both have denied involvement.

India: Former ruling party lawmaker nabbed “fast asleep” on a construction site

As news of the many-tentacled Bitconnect investment heist continues to unfold globally, recent developments have unearthed a web of kidnappings and extortions allegedly tied to Bitconnect investors in the wealthy state of Gujarat.  

Earlier this month, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was remanded in custody for allegedly conspiring with local police to kidnap and extort Bitcoin from a Gujarati Bitconnect investor.

In February, a Surat-based builder by the name of Shailesh Bhatt had charged into the Home Minister’s office in the Indian state of Gujarat, alleging that 10 district cops had kidnapped and extorted him for 176 BTC, worth 9.45 crore* rupee (around $1.31 million).

*A crore rupee denotes 10 million and is equal to 100 lakh rupee in the Indian numbering system (1 lakh rupee denotes 100,000)

The band of 10 was alleged to have comprised not only rank-and-file constables but even a superintendent and a local Crime Branch Inspector.

Bhatt, who is said to have been known for his penchant for Bitcoin trading, claimed he had been duped by one of his business aides, Kirit Paladiya, into thinking that the authorities were keeping him under close watch for his crypto dealings.

He alleged he had been lured by a phone call from his local Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), where he was allegedly beaten in a “torture room” and asked by a CBI official to pay a cash ransom.

Two days later, he claimed he was kidnapped during a meeting with his aide Paladiya near a fuel station, where he was whisked off to a local farm house. There, he said, “[the police officers] beat me up inside a room and threatened to kill me […] if I did not hand over my Bitcoins.”

Bhatt then accused Paladiya of double-crossing him in cahoots with his influential uncle, the former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, who he claimed had been the one who pressured him into paying the ransom.

Bhatt has himself been subsequently accused of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has become embroiled in a case pertaining to an alleged earlier extortion of a staggering 1.55 billion rupee ($215 million) worth of crypto and cash at gunpoint — including around 2,400 BTC — from two colleagues of well-known local Bitconnect promoter Satish Kumbhani.  

However, Indian authorities nonetheless believed there is some weight behind the accusations against the former lawmaker Kotadiya, first issuing an arrest warrant against him in mid-May.

Kotadiya has repeatedly hit back against the allegations, notably via a WhatsApp video — reposted on Youtube in late April — in which, attired in pink, he claimed he had duly informed authorities about the Bitcoin heist and attributed the full blame for the extortion scandal and conspiracy to Bhatt.

Moreover, he threatened to leak evidence that would implicate even more local politicians in the scandal, saying that Bhatt was protecting them and therefore attempting to “fix him” in the case.

Nonetheless, by mid-June, a local sessions judge declared Kotadiya a “proclaimed offender” (absconder) and demanded he appear before the court within 30 days.

As Kotadiya continued to elude the clutches of law enforcement throughout summer, he was finally nabbed after four months in hiding on Sept. 10. He was reportedly found “fast asleep” on the second floor of a railway quarters still under construction, after a local contractor gave police the golden tip-off.

“When we [eventually] found him, he was sleeping on a mattress and there was just an earthen pot of water in the room.”

As Cointelegraph has reported, Kotadiya’s alleged embroilment has been a political gold mine for the opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), who allege that further members of the ruling BJP have used the Bitconnect scam to launder undeclared “black” money.

“The finger of suspicion of this massive scam of illegal cryptocurrency directly points to several top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and a mastermind — an absconding BJP leader and former MLA Nalin Kotadiya […] Who are the top BJP leaders against whom Kotadiya has damning evidence? We demand an impartial Supreme Court-monitored judicial investigation.”

As of press time, the time of Kotadiya’s custody is up, yet the alleged evidence he claims to wield is yet to have been made public.

Iceland’s Bitcoin miner heist: A high-gliding fugitive and suspect hardware in Tianjin

This year, what has been described as one of Iceland’s “largest criminal cases in history” has seen an outlandish set of twists and turns, leading all the way to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

In February, news broke of a series of unprecedented thefts, involving powerful computing equipment that had been stolen in a “highly organized” Bitcoin mining heist. Three burglaries were reported to have taken place in December 2017 and a fourth in January.

The burglars had allegedly swiped 20 million krónur (around $180,000) worth of equipment — 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs and 100 CPU processors — from a house in the municipality of Reykjanesbær.

They had also allegedly broken into data centers across both Reykjanesbær and Borgarbyggð, with a total of 600 computers stolen from both places, worth 200 million krónur (almost $2 million). The whereabouts of the equipment, including the computers — said to have been used for Bitcoin mining — remained untraceable, even as authorities monitored energy consumption for suspicious increases.

Police are said to have initially arrested eleven suspects — two of which were ordered to remain in custody, after the Icelandic IT firm Advania produced incriminating surveillance footage taken at the data center in Reykjanesbær. The authorities soon recovered most of the stolen equipment, yet the 600 computers remained elusive. Both suspects were reported in local media as being “uncooperative.”

Then, on April 17, one of the detainees escaped at 1 a.m. from his custody in an “open” (low-security) prison, just a week before authorities were due to move forward with an indictment.

The fugitive, Sindri Thor Stefánsson, fled the country on a passport bearing another man’s name, boarding a passenger plane to Sweden that was embarrassingly revealed to have been carrying Iceland’s prime minister.

Stefánsson subsequently released a statement claiming he had been “legally allowed” to travel on the day he boarded the plane to Stockholm, as his custody ruling expired April 16 and a judge had requested 24 hours to consider its renewal. This, according, to him, left a brief interim during which the warrant for his custody was legally invalid.

He vowed to return home “soon,” telling reporters he would be challenging his two-and-a-half-month custody at the European Court of Human Rights.

Days later, he was arrested in central Amsterdam, after a photo published on Instagram with the hashtag #teamsindri allegedly gave him away, according to media outlet Iceland Monitor. Police at the time did not confirm this was the case.

Allegedly incriminating Instagram snap of Stefánsson in Amsterdam: Source: Iceland Monitor

Despite #teamsindri reportedly briefly trending across Icelandic Twitter, the case last month came to a head when a judge charged Stefánsson — alongside six others — with the theft of the 600 computers. While Stefánsson’s charge has been confirmed as theft, it remains unclear what role the other six defendants are charged with as having in the incident.

Just days after Stefansson’s Amsterdam stint, police in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin seized 600 computers used to mine Bitcoin, after abnormal electricity usage attracted the attention of the local power grid operator. Local media outlets reported the case as being the “largest power theft case in recent years,” but it notably also drew the attention of authorities back in Iceland, who suspected the exact number match of suspect hardware was more than just an uncanny coincidence.

Icelandic police subsequently reached out to Chinese authorities to try to link the two cases, yet no results have been reported since then.

“One of the best out there”: A teenage SIM-swapping crypto hacker with a taste for luxury cars

Last month, Californian police nabbed a hacker who allegedly stole Bitcoin worth over $1 million via a series of so-called ‘SIM-swapping’ heists — also known as ‘port-out scams.’ The 19-year-old suspect, identified as Xzavyer Narvaez, is said to have specialized in stealing cell phone numbers and using them to hijack online financial and social media accounts tied to those numbers.

A SIM-swap attack results in the victim suddenly losing all service, with any incoming calls or text messages redirected to the attacker’s device. As many firms use automated messages or phone calls to handle customer authentication, SIM swaps can be a goldmine in deft hands.  

Prosecutors allege that Narvaez used his ill-gotten crypto proceeds to purchase luxury goods, including a $200,000 high-performance McLaren sport car, which were tracked through records obtained from Bitcoin payment provider BitPay.

According to cybercrime blog Krebs on Security, the investigators interviewed several alleged victims of Narvaez, one of whom claimed he was robbed of $150,000 in crypto after his SIM was hijacked.

Between March and June 2018 alone, Narvaez’s account on crypto exchange Bittrex reportedly saw a flow of a staggering 157 BTC. He subsequently faced charges on four counts of using personal identifying information without authorization; four counts of altering and damaging computer data with intent to defraud or obtain money, or other value; and grand theft of personal property of a value over $950,000, according to court documents.

VICE’s parallel investigations traced Narvaez’s impressive “credentials” in the SIM-swapping underworld, with one source telling the magazine that he was considered “one of the best […] out there.” VICE’s source provided screenshots of Narvaez’s former Instagram account, which allegedly featured euphoric photos of his fresh, 2018 snow white McLaren, accompanied by the caption “live fast, die young.”

Narvaez is said to have come under the radar of law enforcement following the arrest of one Joel Ortiz, described as “a gifted 20-year-old college student from Boston” who was charged this July with using SIM swaps to swipe over $5 million in crypto from 40 different victims.

A redacted “statement of facts” in the case obtained by Krebs revealed that records obtained from Google had traced that a cellular device used by Ortiz to commit SIM swaps had at one point been used to access the Google account identified as Xzavyer.Narvaez@gmail.com.

In an unrelated case this July, Florida police reportedly arrested a 25-year-old, Ricky Joseph Handschumacher, who was accused of being part of a multi-state, cyber-fraud SIM-swapping ring that operated over the course of two years.

The gang of nine — scattered across different states — was initially tracked in February, when a “worried mom” overheard her son talking on the phone impersonating a telecoms firm employee. The group is alleged to have “routinely paid” employees at cell phone companies to assist in their schemes and to even have discussed a plan to hack accounts belonging to the CEO of the high-profile Gemini Trust company — namely those of Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss.

Handschumacher himself posted multiple flashy purchases — including a pickup truck, multiple all-terrain vehicles and jet skis — on his public Facebook profile. Subpoenas to Coinbase revealed he had sold 82 BTC through his account, “virtually all” of which were not purchased on the platform.

As law enforcement closed in on this host of spry and unabashed millennial SIM swappers, in August, a U.S. investor filed a $224 million lawsuit, taking on telecoms giant AT&T. Michael Terpin accused the firm of alleged negligence, claiming that $24 million in crypto was stolen via a “digital identity theft” of his cell phone account.

His complaint alleged that:

“What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner.”

“Fake news”: OKEx CEO “detained” for alleged fraud

The most recent high-profile, crypto-related “detention” involves OKEx CEO Star Xu, who was the subject of a host of conflicting media reports — and even one viral dumpling-related anecdote — following his sudden tête-à-tête with Chinese authorities this month.

Xu has robustly hit back at rumors that fraud was the reason for his purported ‘arrest,’ after local media reported that he had faced problems at his hotel from a group of investors in WFEE Coin, a blockchain WiFi sharing project they claimed Xu held shares in.

The allegedly defrauded victims had reportedly contacted Shanghai police, who “summoned” the CEO to a police station on Sept. 10 to “put [him] through a round of questioning to get to the bottom of the rumors,” as tech news source ZeroHedge wrote at the time.

A photograph of a police report about Xu on local news outlet Sina Technology appeared to confirm that the police had been notified at 5:59 p.m. on Sept. 10.

Image of police report allegedly involving Star Xu’s detention. Source: Sina Technology

At the same time, alternative sources in China claimed the investors were in fact traders incensed by system failures on the OKEx exchange itself. As Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled on Sept. 5, OKEx platform crashes are alleged to have left users unable to close or otherwise salvage their positions, with losses all the more acute in the case of leveraged trades.

Cointelegraph’s own Chinese sources have since thrown some degree of light on what had spiralled into a sordid media affair, substantiating suspicions that much of the hearsay was indeed “fake news.”

The sources have emphasized that Xu was the one who approached the police of his own accord. In their account, on Sept. 10, Xu had arrived at the Shanghai office of OK Group to meet with customers and conduct other business affairs. He had also — incidentally — made an appointment at the office to meet with a prospective personal fitness coach.

There, the first troubles with the disgruntled investors are said to have begun — who are thought to have been a mix of OKCoin and WFEE Coin investors. Some ambiguity remains as to their exact identity — and whether they were indeed railing against problems tied to the OKEx exchange or held Xu responsible for the vicissitudes of the WFEE token, or a mix of both.

Having gotten wind of Xu’s visit to Shanghai, the aggrieved group is alleged to have been responsible for vandalizing the sign at the city’s OK Group office, as appears to be shown in the following photograph:

Photo showing the apparent vandalization of OK Group’s entrance sign at the Shanghai office

An alarmed Xu is said to have headed back to his hotel, telling his prospective coach to make her way there as well, so as to resume their meeting. The investors are alleged to have then followed the woman’s tracks, suspecting she would lead them to Xu. There, they are alleged to have knocked on the door of the CEO’s room, threatening him.

After four tense hours, Xu is said to have alerted the police. The investors are again alleged to have followed his trail, whereupon Xu called a group of “henchmen” to join him at the police station. At this point, the investors are said to have taken fright and approached the authorities themselves.

In an interview published soon after his release, Xu confirmed he had been held by Shanghai police, seeming to imply he had made the contact on his own initiative:

“In Shanghai, someone reported that I was defrauding. I went to the police station to explain the situation and proved to the police that I did not swindle.”

On Twitter, OKEx COO Cheung also stated that Xu had been encircled by a group in Shanghai, although in his account, the police are said to have arrived to the scene themselves and moved all parties involved to the station. Cheung alleged that:

“While Star was invited to help with the investigation and those people was detained, they raised a fraud complaint against Star. Star stayed to clarify and then left afterward.”

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, no one was witness to Xu’s departure from the station, and it remains unclear how long he spent there.

Xu has stated that while it is “normal” for citizens to exercise their right to make such allegations, he has equally fulfilled his “duty” as a citizen by cooperating with the authorities. In terms of his alleged responsibility for system “abnormalities” on the exchange, Xu has responded that:

“I am not a legal person of OKEx, nor am I a shareholder or a director.”

This point was echoed in Cheung’s parallel tweets, in which the COO stressed that “Star is the founder of OK Group, [and] although we are good friends, he does not run OKEx.” Cheung has added that he felt “disappointed that the story was twisted before the truth came out.”

Local news outlet Jiemian has meanwhile reported that seven out of a total of 300 investors who claimed to have “suffered heavy losses” on the OKEx exchange have since reached a form of settlement with Xu. Notably, repeated system failures are alleged to have caused a total economic loss of “around 300 million yuan.”

In his post-release interview, Xu stressed that while leveraged trading is a “neutral tool in itself,” it is “not suitable for ordinary investors” as the potential for accelerated net profits and losses requires “professional knowledge” to manage the risks involved.

As Jiemian noted, while OKEx offers investors the opportunity to add as much as 20 times leverage to their contracts, unlike traditional futures trading platforms, the exchange operates without regulatory oversight.

As for the WFEE connection, OK Blockchain Capital (OKBC) — a strategic partner of OKEx and a subsidiary of OK Group — has publicly refuted the allegations that Xu had any shares in the project, tweeting on Sept. 12 that:

“The rumor that OK Group founder Star Xu [is] a shareholder of WFEE is fake. Mr. Xu has no equity relationship with WFEE and its company.”

OKBC has further clarified its own relationship with WFEE, stating that “OKBC is one of the institutional investors of WFEE.” WFEE reportedly “acquired OKBC’s and several other capitals’ investments […] when it was still the prime partner of WeShare WiFi — a global leading WiFi sharing company.” The firm added that it had not been notified of subsequent changes to the WFEE white paper, as OKBC “neither participates in” WFEE’s operations, nor in its “results.”

OKBC has also pointed to the fact that OKEx had warned its users of the potential risks posed by WFEE in August and included WFEE in their first “Token Delisting/Hiding Guideline [sic].”

So… what of the dumplings?

Amid the flurry of “twisted” media reports, one viral anecdote alleged that the band of investors had brought a hungry — and short-of-cash — Xu some sustenance, namely dumplings, as he underwent questioning at the police station. The story, despite its oddity, appears to have had some traction. Cointelegraph’s Chinese sources, for their part, dismissed it out-of-hand as an unthinkable and breathless piece of confected hearsay.

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2017 Mazda CX-5 vs. 2018 Lexus NX 300: Crossing Over

With mainstream automakers offering luxury-laden trims while prestige car brands attempt to democratize luxury, we organized four comparison tests to see who does posh better for a capped price of $40,000.

The genesis of Motor Trend’s $40,000 challenge lies with the 2017 Mazda CX-5. We were impressed with the compact crossover from the moment we laid eyes on it, and when the fully refined model turned up at our SUV of the Year competition last August, multiple editors (myself included) remarked on its potential to challenge luxury models rather than its mainstream competitors.

Now we assess that potential.

The defender of the compact luxury crossover genre in this competition is the 2018 Lexus NX 300, another vehicle that pleasantly surprised us during its turn at SUV of the Year four years ago—also earning a place among the finalists.

Just shy of $37,000 to start and $40,463 as tested, our NX lands just above the average new vehicle transaction price. Meanwhile, our CX-5 in top Grand Touring trim comes in at just under $32,000 before options and $33,810 as tested. That gave the Mazda the lowest price in our field of eight and also provided the widest price gap between two competitors in our tests. Granted, you could option the Mazda up to the Lexus’ price point, but more on that later.

Dimensionally, the vehicles are much closer; the Lexus is slightly larger on the outside, but the Mazda rides on a longer wheelbase and offers more rear-seat and cargo space.

Much of what makes luxury appeal to your senses is based on first impressions, and both of these vehicles make strong ones. Approaching the Mazda, you can’t help but be struck by its premium-grade looks. The exterior design is clean and sophisticated, an evening gown compared to the Lexus’ club dress. The Lexus’ many chisels and cuts are extroverted and unmistakable. We think it’s the best application of the brand’s design language on an SUV, but we wouldn’t call it pretty.

Getting behind the wheel has a similar effect. The Mazda’s interior is simple and suave with a dashing two-tone color scheme. Clearly, Mazda spent real money in here: real metal trim; soft, supple leather; rich soft-touch plastics; contrast stitching; and passable fake-wood trim.

The base-model Lexus, meanwhile, plays a clever visual trick by strategically applying the expensive materials in places that draw your eye away from the decontented stuff. Imitation leather, which is good enough to fool you into thinking it’s the real thing, adorns the seats, steering wheel, and arm rests, and it’s set off by contrast stitching. Even the silver-hued plastic trim employs a satin finish that looks expensive. All of this neatly distracts from the center stack’s waterfall of plastic, not to mention the lower door panels that seem better suited to a Toyota Yaris. But how often do you look down there?

Functionally, the Lexus suffers setbacks, as well. The layout of the controls on the center stack makes no sense, and half the functions are controlled by the detestable touchpad-operated infotainment system—which remains distracting even to someone who’s been using it for years. The seating position is very high, which many drivers appreciate, but the steering wheel is so far away even at full extension that you have to choke up dash and pedals to reach it comfortably. The seat itself, at least, is quite comfortable.

We find the Mazda’s layout much more agreeable but still not perfect. The control layout is more traditional and ergonomic, save the rotary controller for the infotainment system, which is so far rearward on the center console that it requires an awkward, gnarled-wrist reach. The screen itself is touch-sensitive, a nice alternative to the knob, but it’s a long reach, and the screen is small by today’s standards. The full-color head-up display, by contrast, is a premium touch. The seat, though, is harder and flatter than we’d like.

Firing the engine and heading out for a drive, the first thing that strikes you is how quiet the Mazda is. Isolation from the outside world is a luxury hallmark, and Mazda has made it a priority. Indeed, applying a professional-grade sound meter to both vehicles returned surprising results: Cruising at 65 mph, the average ambient noise in each vehicle’s cabin is identical. When’s the last time you got in a mainstream vehicle that was as quiet as a luxury car? The Lexus does have a slight advantage, though, as it is quieter under full-throttle acceleration, , but you’ll do a lot less of that than cruising on the freeway.

As you’re driving, you’ll notice the two crossovers have distinct driving personalities. In our experience, the modern luxury shopper equates a degree of sportiness with luxury, and the Mazda has many more degrees than the Lexus. There’s a lightness and nimbleness to the way the Mazda drives, responding immediately and smoothly to your inputs. It can induce smiles even in gentle bends. The engine is generally well-matched to the vehicle, though it could use a little more torque on the bottom end, and the transmission shifts as smoothly and smartly as that of the Lexus. The trade-off is a firmer ride, but it’s a worthwhile one.

The Lexus, by contrast, feels heavy in everything it does. The engine surges when you step on the gas, as if mustering the strength to push the vehicle forward. You need to push the brake pedal harder than expected to slow as quickly as you’d like. It leans more in corners than that sporty look promises and goes over bumps like it’s fully loaded down even when empty. Still, the engine is smooth and responsive in a way that will make you forget it’s turbocharged, and the transmission is spot-on. The ride is softer, as befits the handling. In other words, it befits those who seek a more classic luxury experience.

But your senses can deceive, and here the test numbers don’t jibe with the driving experience. At the test track, the slower-feeling Lexus is actually substantially, surprisingly quicker in a straight line and needs only slightly longer to stop despite being the heavier vehicle. Its straight-line advantage also helps it post a slightly quicker figure-eight result than the Mazda, though the higher lateral g’s recorded in the Mazda speak to its handling prowess. If your roads are straight, you’ll be quicker in the Lexus, but if they’re curved or if you just enjoy driving, you’ll want the Mazda.

That’s you, then, but what of your passengers? Taller riders will appreciate the Mazda’s superior headroom front and especially rear, where the seat is lower. They give up a bit of legroom up front to the Lexus but gain substantially more in the rear. The actual rear seat of the Lexus is more comfortable once you climb up onto it—making sure to watch your head on the way in. Both vehicles’ rear seats recline, but only the Mazda’s are heated.

Speaking of features, it’s generally a given the more you spend over the base price, the more you’ll get. Surprisingly, though, the entry-trim Lexus is fairly well-equipped for its price. Our tester has heated and cooled front seats, active cruise control, a suite of crash-avoidance technology, a moonroof, parking sensors, blind-spot monitors, and a power tailgate—and still came in just over our $40,000 price cap as tested .

To that impressive features list, though, the Mazda adds navigation (albeit like a Garmin from 10 years ago), heated rear seats, a head-up display, and a significantly better-sounding stereo. Neither vehicle came equipped with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Both will offer CarPlay soon, but only Mazda has committed to offering Android Auto.

Sometimes the most important feature of all, however, is the ability to take all your stuff with you. Here, the Lexus is at a decided disadvantage. Despite being larger in every external dimension, it has little more than half the cargo space of the Mazda behind the second row. Lowering the rear seats makes the two nearly equitable behind the first row, though to do so in the Lexus you’ll have to go around to the side doors while the Mazda has release handles in the cargo area.

Most other times, time itself is the greatest luxury. The less of it spent at the gas station, the better. You’ll likely see the pump a bit less often with the Lexus despite it being turbocharged. The two offer nearly identical EPA-estimated fuel economy, with the Mazda claiming a 1-mpg advantage across the board. In our Real MPG testing, though, the Mazda struggles in city driving and excels in highway driving; the Lexus is consistent in the city and better than advertised on the highway. Per our testing, the Lexus’ combined fuel economy is noticeably better.

Some say time is money, but money is actually money. In addition to the purchase price, you’re going to incur costs in ownership, including repairs, routine maintenance, registration fees, insurance, and fuel. Then, when it comes time to sell, you’ll have to face the hammer of depreciation.

Per data collected by our partner IntelliChoice, you’re going to come out ahead with the Mazda over five years of ownership. Much of this owes to the lower purchase price and subsequently lower financing costs, but IntelliChoice predicts lower insurance and maintenance costs, as well. The Mazda’s residual value after five years is also surprisingly close to that of the Lexus—which is generally considered the industry gold standard and was the highest of all eight vehicles we evaluated for this test.

In what was by far the closest decision of these four comparison tests, this is what it came down to: money. The actual vehicles are so evenly matched that if they cost the same, we might recommend the Lexus for the badge appeal and white-glove dealer treatment alone. That’s far from the case, though.

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Gruper The Scammer

As may some of you know I was recently scammed by one of whom I thought was my best maple-friend. He was a Junior Master in my guild and we even used to talk daily. I am speaking of no other than Windia's #1 ranked Wind Archer, Gruper.

As some of you know Gruper is an Israeli mapler much like myself. We even met in real life and hung out together. He chose to reveal much of his personal information to me, giving me access to his accounts and trusting me with his information. He also gave me full access to his credit card via PCGameSupply. Never did I ONCE take anything without permission from him. Despite this relationship Gruper had sought out to end our friendship over a trivial issue and he ended it in the ugliest way possible. I will argue that Gruper is a pedophile and legal actions will be taken against him but that will be kept for another post. Here how things ran down through history

In the past, as a close friend of mine, he was given help leveling up his mule accounts and link-skill characters. I have helped him by providing Kishin and Holy-Symbol mules, exp coupons and potions. He was given legendary and Unique items. He was given tyrant equipment, he was given perfected Gollux items, meso and NX. All of those things given on the one condition that they will be handed back or paid in full. He even stated that he was moving some of my equipment around instead of handing it back since he wished to use it for another character. Last June he was starting to act suspicious, he started fighting with other guilds. He was called out on being selfish or self-centered by other alliance members who did not wish to engage with him any longer. In July, a member of the alliance has contacted me regarding his behavior. she claims that he sent her whispers, skype messages and request that were very sexual. She also claims that she explained to him that she was underage yet his behavior did not change. By this time, she could not stay as an active player and had to quit the game in fear of him committing to his statements. (first red flag)

In October Gruper's personality had changed so greatly that I could not trust him any longer and he was requested to hand back everything I had given him. To this he replied that he will do so when he is able and not when I wish it to be (the seconds red flag). I had explained that I will continue to help him level his accounts on the condition he helps me with mine. Of course, that by that time he was so consumed by his own need that he forsaken me in pursue to only benefit himself. He promised to help me do boss runs in exchange for exp and boss leech and by the time he had every bit of help on my side he rarely helped me level my own characters and with great dissatisfaction. Another side of this is his urges to get things done immediately without the consideration of other's needs – when he was called out on his change of personality he started behaving like a child and become offended for no reason. Days went by without him speaking to me when I had given him a negative answer.

I spoke less with him, calling him less frequently and stopped going the extra mile for him. Now his attitude made MapleStory more of a chore than a fun-unwinding-game. He became demanding and aggravating. He forgot the promises he once gave and started treating his entire buddy-list like they were just in his way. When confronted he never explained his actions, just excusing himself that he is the way he is and he stands behind his words and live with the results.

In January, his on-line girlfriend had left maplestory temporarily and gave him full access to her account, unknowing of his actions. She claims that after she logged on to see that her account was stripped she also lost access to her account, her password was changed and she could not log-in to the game. She reported this to me on skype:

When I had confronted him about all this - Gruper did not reply. Simply, he shut himself down and refused to discuss any of this. The following day Gruper had kicked every member of the guild that was not considered Jr. master (evidence by Nexon) He declined my phone calls. He had removed me off social media and blocked me on skype. The only time he engaged with me was to give me an NX code to cover up for the actual cash he had taken from me. Never trading me in-game or whispering me.

In February, I had contacted his friends to see if they noticed a change in his personality yet they claim that the actions I was describing were unlike him. He became distant from the maplestory community and stopped talking to those close to him.

Once I had noticed that my guild was empty I saw that he was not listed as a Jr. master. I had searched his name and found him in a new guild Anarchy. All attempts to speak with his guild master had failed. She does not seek to end this by resorting to a no-negotiation policy. All attempts to ask her to contact me ended in the same result. I was asked a couple of times to drop my efforts to make peace by contacting her since she is "stressing over this". This raises yet another red flag.

Going back to the events of June, I had contacted two girls that were harassed by Gruper in the past. Both asked my help in filing a police report regarding the topic. Both were under-aged at the time of the occurrence. Both got rather disturbing messages. Both fear Gruper may act upon those things.

[bundgaard97emery-blog]

Feiras Livres Em Barueri

Explore melhor de Baladas incluindo informações, atrações e tudo que acontece em São Paulo. As feiras coordenadas pela ADS operam em cinco localizações da capital: na Feira da Clube de Subtenentes e Sargentos da Amazônia (ASA); na Agente Militar (PM); no Clube dos Suboficiais e também Sargentos da Aviação (Cassam); na Escola Estadual Júlio Cesar de Morais Passos (Cidade Novidade) e também a mais nova no Shopping center Sumaúma. A realização de uma busca sobre essa utensílio é importante devido ao rápido desenvolvimento do segmento de eventos culturais informações no meio corporativo que investe em perfurar setores destinados as atividades desse seção e também apresentação de novas empresas dedicadas somente a esse novo retalho. Se pelo menos pequeno número de projetos de leis que tramitam no congresso fossem aprovadas essa classe poderia estar mas protegida da criminalidade. Os banquetes romanos, no começo revestidos de certa simplicidade, copiaram pouco a pouco luxo asiático e também assumiram receita faustosa das festividades orientais. Participar do maior encontro nacional de compras públicas não é somente se capacitar, porém sim se preparar com mais alto padrão de qualidade, aproveitar a presença dos piores doutrinadores do país e trocar testes com colegas de profissão. Já a zona Núcleo-Oeste, sofrem impacto dos países fronteiriços, em próprio Paraguai, visto que os ritmos das quadrilhas e as festas acontecem ao som da Polca paraguaia e sertaneja. Uma mesa simplória, algumas cadeiras no mesmo modelo e, talvez, um belo conjunto de toalhas seja tudo que você precisa para criar uma sala de jantar minimalista Não há necessidade de para centenas e centenas de lâmpadas pequenas, tapetes, almofadas e também assim por diante: esta é uma das mas simples convicções para a sala de jantar e realmente remete a um pouco moderno e jovial. 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NX One Noida Extension Review, NX One Office Space, NX One Mall

NX One Noida Extension Review, NX One Office Space, NX One Mall

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2017 Mazda CX-5 first drive review: Will more tech, quieter cockpit match Audi, BMW?

  The second-generation Mazda CX-5 compact crossover / SUV stands as the best choice for driving enthusiasts who need an affordable crossover to haul gear or family members. The 2017 CX-5 is also emerging as the category’s technology champ with a head-up display, smart blind spot detection aler t, full-range adaptive cruise control, standard LED headlamps, and an intelligent all-wheel-drive system. Mazda makes a fair claim that the CX-5 has “class above” technology more in line with what Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz offer. “We know we’re already better than CR-Vs and such, so we benchmarked upscale,” Mazda’s chief engineer proclaims. To appeal to mainstream buyers who’ve made Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 each outsell Mazda 3-1 last year, Mazda has worked on sound-damping, improving ride quality, adding rear seat heaters, upping the quality of the audio system, and adding rear seat USB jacks. Nobody’s perfect and in Mazda’s case there’s still no performance engine for enthusiasts. For mainstream buyers, there’s no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto offered, no satellite radio except on the costliest CX-5, and those rear seat heaters are an option on the costliest CX-5. Overall, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

Second generation, looks like the first generation Mazda says there are big changes inside and out, as there have been almost every since the first-gen CX-5 arrived as a 2013 model. For 2017 (lower image above), there’s a sharper nose, a black egg-carton grille (no horizontal strakes now), and a side body character line that sweeps down instead of up as it moves rearward. It’s still 179 inches long, right in the sweet spot for compact SUVs. There’s one engine choice, a 187-hp normally aspirated (no turbo) four-cylinder engine, rated at 23 mpg city, 30 mpg highway, 26 mpg combined for all-wheel-drive, 24/31/27 for front-drive. The transmission is a six-speed automatic. Mazda said new features appealing to mainstream buyers are an available power liftgate, a second-row seat that reclines (slightly) and also folds fully flat, and improved NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) without degrading handling. See the slideshow below for the 10 tech improvements that make the CX-5, as Mazda says, punch above its weight, including full-range adaptive cruise control, G-Vectoring, more USB jacks, a head-up display that includes blind spot information, and traffic sign recognition. Ten tech features make the 2017 CX-5 stand out:

Full-range adaptive cruise control (ACC) Among Mazda's 10 coolest, class-above features: Mazda Radar Cruise Control (Mazda's term) for 2017 goes all the way down to stopped and back up to speed. It's a big advantage in metro areas with stop-and-go highway commuting. It's also less abrupt then 2016's system. ACC is still not common on mainstream compact SUVs; here, it's offered on all but the entry trim line. 12345678910 On the road

I test-drove the CX-5 in San Diego and eastward along the US-Mexico border (lots of border patrol agents, no sign of the wall). In comparison with the 2016 Mazda CX-5 I’ve been driving the past half-year, the new one is indeed quieter and a bit less bouncy on rough roads. Mazda attributes this to more welds, acoustic laminated glass in front, extra door seals, and more sound insulation in the floor. The adaptive cruise control was smoother; the older one sometimes locked on to a car ahead and then a few seconds later braked firmly, enough to make the passengers look up. The head up display was a great addition, particularly since it put the blind spot warning in the HUD (as well as in the side mirrors). When a car shows up in your blind spot, three sonar-looking waves turn orange on the left, right, or both. If you’re thinking about changing lanes, you have to shift your vision to the side mirror for a couple hundred milliseconds; with the HUD, you just glance down, all the while keeping your eyes on the road ahead. The steering wheel has even bigger buttons this year. The engine is basically the same: Mazda’s high-tech SkyActiv inline-four with low emissions and adequate pickup for merging onto expressways. The mileage is decent, but you’ll probably be in the high 20s in combined driving; you need a light foot to pass 30 mpg. Thus my interest in seeing how peppy and economical the 2.2-liter SkyActiv diesel will be this fall. Navigation is adequate; there are better and worse from competitors, but it gets the job done. The new Bose audio with 10 speakers sounds better. It’s great having USB jacks for back seat passengers. I’ve grown to like the Commander control wheel in the console. A nearby button to fetch audio presets (you scroll to the one you want) gives you as many as you want, but it’s not as direct as having six or eight dedicated presets right under the center LCD. The back is still roomy especially for a small car. Four adults can travel all day in comfort, and even more so with back seat HVAC vents and the improved ride.

Where Mazda isn’t yet class-above Mazda wants to be compared with the big boys: Audi Q3 and Q5 (the CX-5 falls in between in size), BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC, and the two Japanese crossovers that are 1-2 in premium SUV sales: Lexus NX and Acura RDX. Fair enough. Here’s where Mazda comes up short. Blind spot detection doesn’t offer haptic feedback, meaning a steering wheel or seat vibration that only alerts the driver. The beep is only a second long, which makes it only halfway annoying. Lane departure warning does offer a vibration now, along with either a beep or a rumble strip sound through the speakers (pick one). Not having Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in 2017 is starting to look dated. We understand that adopting them puts a small automaker at the mercies of Apple and Google. At least it’s in the works. Satellite radio is only offered on the costliest CX-5, the Grand Touring. It needs to be on every trim line.

Some, not all, class-above competitors offer side window screens (the CX-9 does, too) and it’s great for long trips. The CX-5 also lacks surround vision cameras, automated parallel parking, and factory-installed rear parking sonar (as a dealer accessory, it’s costly). Campers and boaters would wish for 3,500-pound towing capacity, not just 2,000 pounds; it’s rare in affordable compact SUVs (Toyota offers a special RAV4 that tows 3,500 pounds), but not uncommon among higher end competitors. Mazda as yet offers no telematics package like GM OnStar. It will become more and more useful to get real-time updates on road conditions, detours, and restaurant and hotel information. Mazda at least gets current speed information by reading roadside speed limit signs (also stop signs and traffic lights). There are also little things: BMW and Audi have roller wheels on the steering wheel for adjusting volume or audio choices, which is faster, smoother, and cooler than up-down buttons. It also costs a bit more. The interior leather trim is either off-white or black; a medium brown or chestnut would be a good in-between choice. For Mazda, the challenge is that every time it offers another choice, there’s more complexity in finding exactly what you want in stock. (Although it’s zero percent now if you want a tobacco-color leather.) Mazda doesn’t lose all the comparisons. Mazda has LED headlamps standard; BMW offers LED headlamps on the X3 for $1,900. Advantage, Mazda.

Mazda CX-5 pricing: $25,000 to $34,000 all-in Mazda pricing is on par with most other mainstream compact crossovers. There are three trim lines, or model variants.  The technology builds with each trim line. CX-5 Sport. $24,985 (including $940 freight), $26,285 with all-wheel-drive. Standard equipment includes LED headlamps, Smart City Brake Support, backup camera, two USB jacks, phone and audio Bluetooth, 7-inch dash mounted LCD, AM/FM/HD radio, and 17-inch alloy wheels. Seats are manual with cloth trim. There are no options packages other than Soul Red Crystal paint: $595 for a dazzling red. CX-5 Touring. $26,855, $28,155 with AWD. It adds blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, keyless entry, two rear USB jacks, leatherette heated front seats with “lux suede” inserts and six-way power driver’s seat, auto-leveling LED headlamps, six-speaker audio, rear center armrest, and rear HVAC vents. The $780 Preferred Equipment Package adds 10-speaker Bose audio, a moonroof, a power liftgate, navigation, auto-dimming mirrors, Homelink (garage door opener), and auto on/off headlamps. The Touring i-Activsense package, $625, adds lane departure warning, automatic high beams, lane keep-assist, stop and go adaptive cruise control (“radar cruise control”), and smart brake support. Machine Gray Metallic paint is $300, and Snowflake White Pearl is $200. CX-5 Grand Touring. $30,335, $31,635 with AWD. In addition to the Touring’s standard and optional features, it adds steerable headlamps, LED fog and tail lamps, satellite radio, rain-sensing wipers, heated outside mirrors, eight-way power driver’s seat, leather seats, and 19-inch alloy wheels. The $1,830 Grand Touring package includes a true head up display (“Active Driving Display”) with traffic sign recognition, power front passenger seat, heated outboard rear seats, heated steering wheel, and windshield wiper de-icer.

Is this the compact SUV to buy? Mazda makes a strong case that its compact crossover has the most features offered at a competitive price. If marriage and a baby make you trade your sports sedan for a small SUV, this is hands-down the best crossover for enthusiasts who don’t want to pay BMW X3, Audi Q5, or Mercedes-Benz GLC kinds of money. A loaded CX-5 is a couple thousand less than a stripped Lexus NX or Acura RDX, the two sales leaders among premium compact SUVs, and about $6,000 less than an zero-options X3. Comparably equipped, a premium compact SUV will be $10,000-$15,000 more, although they’ll likely have better resale value, meaning attractive lease rates. With the tweaks in the 2017 model, you’ll find the new CX-5 more palatable for passengers who don’t like a firm ride. The interior is upscale. The exterior lines are crisper. The Soul Red Crystal paint is to die for (at almost $600, you might feel a small twinge). The sum of the technology is best-in-category against the CR-V, RAV4, Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape, and Chevrolet Equinox, the five compact SUVs that sold 242,000 (Chevy) to 357,000 units (Honda) last year versus Mazda’s 112,000. If you value technology, the 2017 Mazda CX-5 is your car. The case for the 2017 CX-5 is best if you’re looking at the very top trim line, the Grand Touring with the Premium package. It shows the most changes from the outgoing 2016.5 CX-5, particularly the adaptive cruise and HUD. The bang-for-the buck CX-5 is the CX-5 Touring with the two options packages that give you lane departure warning, automatic high beams, lane keep-assist, stop and go adaptive cruise control, the power liftgate, premium audio, and the sunroof: just under $30,000, all in. If you’re not a fan of new technology, then you should also look at leftover 2016 models, making sure that your spouse/partner goes along for the test ride so your both comfortable with how it feels on smooth and bumpy roads. Mazda indeed punches above its weight.   Click to Post

[legit-scam-review]

Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe

Gone are the days when shady dealings in crypto were perceived as immune to the clutches of law enforcement.

Illicit crypto proceeds can be shuttled between wallet addresses at the click of a mouse, and their obfuscation behind the multiple strings of numbers and letters of wallet addresses can create a dizzying — if not impenetrable — cryptographic maze for authorities to navigate.

But the criminals themselves present a more concrete target, and as they interface with everything from crafty code to unwieldy hardware to ‘traditional’ firearms, there has been some success in 2018 in nabbing some of the year’s darkest — and most imaginative — offenders.

From soap actors to former lawmakers, Cointelegraph takes stock of some of the most illustrious arrests of the figures behind crypto’s high crimes and misdemeanours this year.

Foiled supercomputer Bitcoin heist in Russian nuclear no-man’s land

In February, Russian security agents scored a coup against a group of nuclear engineers at a top-secret nuclear warhead facility who tried to use one of the country’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

The engineers worked at the Federal Nuclear Center in the western city of Sarov — formerly one of the Soviet Union’s closed-off cities, unmarked on historic maps and shrouded in secrecy.

As one of the Soviet “closed administrative territorial entities,” Sarov was then known as Arzamas-16, and was the center of research and production for the first Soviet atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb under Joseph Stalin. Special permits are still required today for ordinary Russians to visit it.

With such a stellar off-grid history, you’d think the Bitcoin-hungry nuclear engineers might have suspected that connecting the site’s supercomputer — a 1 petaflop titan with a capacity for 1,000 trillion calculations per second — to the internet might draw just a little attention.

As soon as the engineers tried to bring it online, the security department was alerted and was able to foil the scientists, who were peremptorily handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Tatiana Zalesskaya, the head of the press service for the research institute, told the Interfax news agency that that the attempt was a “technically hopeless and criminally punishable offense.”

A criminal case was reportedly duly opened against them.

Contentiously, it has been alleged that the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 was produced in Sarov, which houses a plant that is said to be the “world’s only commercial producer of the substance,” according to evidence presented before a court in the United Kingdom.

Sarov’s rogue scientists are not the only ones to have thought of using former Soviet military spaces for crypto mining. The Ice Rock Mining firm has plans to — legally — set up mining operations in a former Soviet bunker located in a cave in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Caught in the headlights: Thai actor “Boom” arrested on set for alleged crypto fraud family affair

This summer, reports emerged tied to the story of a Finnish millionaire allegedly fooled by a Thai crypto investment scam — to the tune of Bitcoin worth 797 million baht ($24.62 million) at the time.

According to the Thai Crime Suppression Division (CSD), the 22-year-old Finn, identified as Aarni Otava Saarimaa, claimed he had been lured into investing his Bitcoin into several companies, a casino and the gambling-focused crypto token Dragon Coin.

Saarima’s business partner, the Thai businessman Chonnikan Kaeosali, reportedly first approached the CSD in January this year, outlining how the pair had been drawn to purchase shares in three firms — Expay Group, NX Chain Inc. and DNA 2002 Plc — that were purported to be investors in Dragon Coin. He said they had first been approached in connection with the affair by a local Thai group back in June 2017.

The fraudsters are said to have taken their would-be victims around a Macau-based casino where they claimed the gambling-focused token would soon be used. Saarima subsequently transferred his crypto but never saw returns, shareholder papers nor any proof of investment in Dragon Coin.

As the CSD’s investigations unfolded, they identified a group of nine suspects — three of whom were revealed to be a group of siblings from the Jaravijit family. The suspects are said to have swiftly sold the crypto for local fiat currency, dispersing the spoils between various bank accounts.

It was the arrest of one of the siblings this summer — a dapper 27-year-old soap-opera star known as Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit — that first brought the case to public light.  

On Aug. 9, Boom was taken into custody on money laundering charges in the midst of filming at the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Local media noted it was the day after the star’s birthday.

It was alleged that the actor had colluded with his siblings to launder the swindled money, after investigations revealed they had bought 14 plots of land worth 176 million baht ($5.44 million).

Boom’s brother, Prinya Jaravijit, is said to have been the ringleader of the scheme, having reportedly received a tip-off from a Thai banker about the wealthy Finn and then setting the heist in motion. Prinya has reportedly fled to South Korea, while Boom’s sister is said to have made contact with the CSD to turn herself in.

The CSD has sought arrest warrants for a further six suspects and frozen a total of 51 different bank accounts in addition to the siblings’ land.

Boom was temporarily released on a 2 million baht ($61,827) bail bond on the condition that he would not leave the country, having argued that his arrest on set in a public place was ample proof he had not been intending to flee.

Earlier this month, another Jaravijit sibling turned himself in to deny the fraud charges, while police met two further suspects: Prasit Srisuwan, a well-known stock trader, and Chakris Ahmad.

Boom’s parents, Mr. Suwit and Ms. Lertchatkamol, have also been questioned after police traced that 90 million baht ($2.78 million) had been transferred to their accounts. Both have denied involvement.

India: Former ruling party lawmaker nabbed “fast asleep” on a construction site

As news of the many-tentacled Bitconnect investment heist continues to unfold globally, recent developments have unearthed a web of kidnappings and extortions allegedly tied to Bitconnect investors in the wealthy state of Gujarat.  

Earlier this month, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was remanded in custody for allegedly conspiring with local police to kidnap and extort Bitcoin from a Gujarati Bitconnect investor.

In February, a Surat-based builder by the name of Shailesh Bhatt had charged into the Home Minister’s office in the Indian state of Gujarat, alleging that 10 district cops had kidnapped and extorted him for 176 BTC, worth 9.45 crore* rupee (around $1.31 million).

*A crore rupee denotes 10 million and is equal to 100 lakh rupee in the Indian numbering system (1 lakh rupee denotes 100,000)

The band of 10 was alleged to have comprised not only rank-and-file constables but even a superintendent and a local Crime Branch Inspector.

Bhatt, who is said to have been known for his penchant for Bitcoin trading, claimed he had been duped by one of his business aides, Kirit Paladiya, into thinking that the authorities were keeping him under close watch for his crypto dealings.

He alleged he had been lured by a phone call from his local Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), where he was allegedly beaten in a “torture room” and asked by a CBI official to pay a cash ransom.

Two days later, he claimed he was kidnapped during a meeting with his aide Paladiya near a fuel station, where he was whisked off to a local farm house. There, he said, “[the police officers] beat me up inside a room and threatened to kill me […] if I did not hand over my Bitcoins.”

Bhatt then accused Paladiya of double-crossing him in cahoots with his influential uncle, the former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, who he claimed had been the one who pressured him into paying the ransom.

Bhatt has himself been subsequently accused of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has become embroiled in a case pertaining to an alleged earlier extortion of a staggering 1.55 billion rupee ($215 million) worth of crypto and cash at gunpoint — including around 2,400 BTC — from two colleagues of well-known local Bitconnect promoter Satish Kumbhani.  

However, Indian authorities nonetheless believed there is some weight behind the accusations against the former lawmaker Kotadiya, first issuing an arrest warrant against him in mid-May.

Kotadiya has repeatedly hit back against the allegations, notably via a WhatsApp video — reposted on Youtube in late April — in which, attired in pink, he claimed he had duly informed authorities about the Bitcoin heist and attributed the full blame for the extortion scandal and conspiracy to Bhatt.

Moreover, he threatened to leak evidence that would implicate even more local politicians in the scandal, saying that Bhatt was protecting them and therefore attempting to “fix him” in the case.

Nonetheless, by mid-June, a local sessions judge declared Kotadiya a “proclaimed offender” (absconder) and demanded he appear before the court within 30 days.

As Kotadiya continued to elude the clutches of law enforcement throughout summer, he was finally nabbed after four months in hiding on Sept. 10. He was reportedly found “fast asleep” on the second floor of a railway quarters still under construction, after a local contractor gave police the golden tip-off.

“When we [eventually] found him, he was sleeping on a mattress and there was just an earthen pot of water in the room.”

As Cointelegraph has reported, Kotadiya’s alleged embroilment has been a political gold mine for the opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), who allege that further members of the ruling BJP have used the Bitconnect scam to launder undeclared “black” money.

“The finger of suspicion of this massive scam of illegal cryptocurrency directly points to several top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and a mastermind — an absconding BJP leader and former MLA Nalin Kotadiya […] Who are the top BJP leaders against whom Kotadiya has damning evidence? We demand an impartial Supreme Court-monitored judicial investigation.”

As of press time, the time of Kotadiya’s custody is up, yet the alleged evidence he claims to wield is yet to have been made public.

Iceland’s Bitcoin miner heist: A high-gliding fugitive and suspect hardware in Tianjin

This year, what has been described as one of Iceland’s “largest criminal cases in history” has seen an outlandish set of twists and turns, leading all the way to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

In February, news broke of a series of unprecedented thefts, involving powerful computing equipment that had been stolen in a “highly organized” Bitcoin mining heist. Three burglaries were reported to have taken place in December 2017 and a fourth in January.

The burglars had allegedly swiped 20 million krónur (around $180,000) worth of equipment — 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs and 100 CPU processors — from a house in the municipality of Reykjanesbær.

They had also allegedly broken into data centers across both Reykjanesbær and Borgarbyggð, with a total of 600 computers stolen from both places, worth 200 million krónur (almost $2 million). The whereabouts of the equipment, including the computers — said to have been used for Bitcoin mining — remained untraceable, even as authorities monitored energy consumption for suspicious increases.

Police are said to have initially arrested eleven suspects — two of which were ordered to remain in custody, after the Icelandic IT firm Advania produced incriminating surveillance footage taken at the data center in Reykjanesbær. The authorities soon recovered most of the stolen equipment, yet the 600 computers remained elusive. Both suspects were reported in local media as being “uncooperative.”

Then, on April 17, one of the detainees escaped at 1 a.m. from his custody in an “open” (low-security) prison, just a week before authorities were due to move forward with an indictment.

The fugitive, Sindri Thor Stefánsson, fled the country on a passport bearing another man’s name, boarding a passenger plane to Sweden that was embarrassingly revealed to have been carrying Iceland’s prime minister.

Stefánsson subsequently released a statement claiming he had been “legally allowed” to travel on the day he boarded the plane to Stockholm, as his custody ruling expired April 16 and a judge had requested 24 hours to consider its renewal. This, according, to him, left a brief interim during which the warrant for his custody was legally invalid.

He vowed to return home “soon,” telling reporters he would be challenging his two-and-a-half-month custody at the European Court of Human Rights.

Days later, he was arrested in central Amsterdam, after a photo published on Instagram with the hashtag #teamsindri allegedly gave him away, according to media outlet Iceland Monitor. Police at the time did not confirm this was the case.

Allegedly incriminating Instagram snap of Stefánsson in Amsterdam: Source: Iceland Monitor

Despite #teamsindri reportedly briefly trending across Icelandic Twitter, the case last month came to a head when a judge charged Stefánsson — alongside six others — with the theft of the 600 computers. While Stefánsson’s charge has been confirmed as theft, it remains unclear what role the other six defendants are charged with as having in the incident.

Just days after Stefansson’s Amsterdam stint, police in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin seized 600 computers used to mine Bitcoin, after abnormal electricity usage attracted the attention of the local power grid operator. Local media outlets reported the case as being the “largest power theft case in recent years,�� but it notably also drew the attention of authorities back in Iceland, who suspected the exact number match of suspect hardware was more than just an uncanny coincidence.

Icelandic police subsequently reached out to Chinese authorities to try to link the two cases, yet no results have been reported since then.

“One of the best out there”: A teenage SIM-swapping crypto hacker with a taste for luxury cars

Last month, Californian police nabbed a hacker who allegedly stole Bitcoin worth over $1 million via a series of so-called ‘SIM-swapping’ heists — also known as ‘port-out scams.’ The 19-year-old suspect, identified as Xzavyer Narvaez, is said to have specialized in stealing cell phone numbers and using them to hijack online financial and social media accounts tied to those numbers.

A SIM-swap attack results in the victim suddenly losing all service, with any incoming calls or text messages redirected to the attacker’s device. As many firms use automated messages or phone calls to handle customer authentication, SIM swaps can be a goldmine in deft hands.  

Prosecutors allege that Narvaez used his ill-gotten crypto proceeds to purchase luxury goods, including a $200,000 high-performance McLaren sport car, which were tracked through records obtained from Bitcoin payment provider BitPay.

According to cybercrime blog Krebs on Security, the investigators interviewed several alleged victims of Narvaez, one of whom claimed he was robbed of $150,000 in crypto after his SIM was hijacked.

Between March and June 2018 alone, Narvaez’s account on crypto exchange Bittrex reportedly saw a flow of a staggering 157 BTC. He subsequently faced charges on four counts of using personal identifying information without authorization; four counts of altering and damaging computer data with intent to defraud or obtain money, or other value; and grand theft of personal property of a value over $950,000, according to court documents.

VICE’s parallel investigations traced Narvaez’s impressive “credentials” in the SIM-swapping underworld, with one source telling the magazine that he was considered “one of the best […] out there.” VICE’s source provided screenshots of Narvaez’s former Instagram account, which allegedly featured euphoric photos of his fresh, 2018 snow white McLaren, accompanied by the caption “live fast, die young.”

Narvaez is said to have come under the radar of law enforcement following the arrest of one Joel Ortiz, described as “a gifted 20-year-old college student from Boston” who was charged this July with using SIM swaps to swipe over $5 million in crypto from 40 different victims.

A redacted “statement of facts” in the case obtained by Krebs revealed that records obtained from Google had traced that a cellular device used by Ortiz to commit SIM swaps had at one point been used to access the Google account identified as Xzavyer.Narvaez@gmail.com.

In an unrelated case this July, Florida police reportedly arrested a 25-year-old, Ricky Joseph Handschumacher, who was accused of being part of a multi-state, cyber-fraud SIM-swapping ring that operated over the course of two years.

The gang of nine — scattered across different states — was initially tracked in February, when a “worried mom” overheard her son talking on the phone impersonating a telecoms firm employee. The group is alleged to have “routinely paid” employees at cell phone companies to assist in their schemes and to even have discussed a plan to hack accounts belonging to the CEO of the high-profile Gemini Trust company — namely those of Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss.

Handschumacher himself posted multiple flashy purchases — including a pickup truck, multiple all-terrain vehicles and jet skis — on his public Facebook profile. Subpoenas to Coinbase revealed he had sold 82 BTC through his account, “virtually all” of which were not purchased on the platform.

As law enforcement closed in on this host of spry and unabashed millennial SIM swappers, in August, a U.S. investor filed a $224 million lawsuit, taking on telecoms giant AT&T. Michael Terpin accused the firm of alleged negligence, claiming that $24 million in crypto was stolen via a “digital identity theft” of his cell phone account.

His complaint alleged that:

“What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner.”

“Fake news”: OKEx CEO “detained” for alleged fraud

The most recent high-profile, crypto-related “detention” involves OKEx CEO Star Xu, who was the subject of a host of conflicting media reports — and even one viral dumpling-related anecdote — following his sudden tête-à-tête with Chinese authorities this month.

Xu has robustly hit back at rumors that fraud was the reason for his purported ‘arrest,’ after local media reported that he had faced problems at his hotel from a group of investors in WFEE Coin, a blockchain WiFi sharing project they claimed Xu held shares in.

The allegedly defrauded victims had reportedly contacted Shanghai police, who “summoned” the CEO to a police station on Sept. 10 to “put [him] through a round of questioning to get to the bottom of the rumors,” as tech news source ZeroHedge wrote at the time.

A photograph of a police report about Xu on local news outlet Sina Technology appeared to confirm that the police had been notified at 5:59 p.m. on Sept. 10.

Image of police report allegedly involving Star Xu’s detention. Source: Sina Technology

At the same time, alternative sources in China claimed the investors were in fact traders incensed by system failures on the OKEx exchange itself. As Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled on Sept. 5, OKEx platform crashes are alleged to have left users unable to close or otherwise salvage their positions, with losses all the more acute in the case of leveraged trades.

Cointelegraph’s own Chinese sources have since thrown some degree of light on what had spiralled into a sordid media affair, substantiating suspicions that much of the hearsay was indeed “fake news.”

The sources have emphasized that Xu was the one who approached the police of his own accord. In their account, on Sept. 10, Xu had arrived at the Shanghai office of OK Group to meet with customers and conduct other business affairs. He had also — incidentally — made an appointment at the office to meet with a prospective personal fitness coach.

There, the first troubles with the disgruntled investors are said to have begun — who are thought to have been a mix of OKCoin and WFEE Coin investors. Some ambiguity remains as to their exact identity — and whether they were indeed railing against problems tied to the OKEx exchange or held Xu responsible for the vicissitudes of the WFEE token, or a mix of both.

Having gotten wind of Xu’s visit to Shanghai, the aggrieved group is alleged to have been responsible for vandalizing the sign at the city’s OK Group office, as appears to be shown in the following photograph:

Photo showing the apparent vandalization of OK Group’s entrance sign at the Shanghai office

An alarmed Xu is said to have headed back to his hotel, telling his prospective coach to make her way there as well, so as to resume their meeting. The investors are alleged to have then followed the woman’s tracks, suspecting she would lead them to Xu. There, they are alleged to have knocked on the door of the CEO’s room, threatening him.

After four tense hours, Xu is said to have alerted the police. The investors are again alleged to have followed his trail, whereupon Xu called a group of “henchmen” to join him at the police station. At this point, the investors are said to have taken fright and approached the authorities themselves.

In an interview published soon after his release, Xu confirmed he had been held by Shanghai police, seeming to imply he had made the contact on his own initiative:

“In Shanghai, someone reported that I was defrauding. I went to the police station to explain the situation and proved to the police that I did not swindle.”

On Twitter, OKEx COO Cheung also stated that Xu had been encircled by a group in Shanghai, although in his account, the police are said to have arrived to the scene themselves and moved all parties involved to the station. Cheung alleged that:

“While Star was invited to help with the investigation and those people was detained, they raised a fraud complaint against Star. Star stayed to clarify and then left afterward.”

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, no one was witness to Xu’s departure from the station, and it remains unclear how long he spent there.

Xu has stated that while it is “normal” for citizens to exercise their right to make such allegations, he has equally fulfilled his “duty” as a citizen by cooperating with the authorities. In terms of his alleged responsibility for system “abnormalities” on the exchange, Xu has responded that:

“I am not a legal person of OKEx, nor am I a shareholder or a director.”

This point was echoed in Cheung’s parallel tweets, in which the COO stressed that “Star is the founder of OK Group, [and] although we are good friends, he does not run OKEx.” Cheung has added that he felt “disappointed that the story was twisted before the truth came out.”

Local news outlet Jiemian has meanwhile reported that seven out of a total of 300 investors who claimed to have “suffered heavy losses” on the OKEx exchange have since reached a form of settlement with Xu. Notably, repeated system failures are alleged to have caused a total economic loss of “around 300 million yuan.”

In his post-release interview, Xu stressed that while leveraged trading is a “neutral tool in itself,” it is “not suitable for ordinary investors” as the potential for accelerated net profits and losses requires “professional knowledge” to manage the risks involved.

As Jiemian noted, while OKEx offers investors the opportunity to add as much as 20 times leverage to their contracts, unlike traditional futures trading platforms, the exchange operates without regulatory oversight.

As for the WFEE connection, OK Blockchain Capital (OKBC) — a strategic partner of OKEx and a subsidiary of OK Group — has publicly refuted the allegations that Xu had any shares in the project, tweeting on Sept. 12 that:

“The rumor that OK Group founder Star Xu [is] a shareholder of WFEE is fake. Mr. Xu has no equity relationship with WFEE and its company.”

OKBC has further clarified its own relationship with WFEE, stating that “OKBC is one of the institutional investors of WFEE.” WFEE reportedly “acquired OKBC’s and several other capitals’ investments […] when it was still the prime partner of WeShare WiFi — a global leading WiFi sharing company.” The firm added that it had not been notified of subsequent changes to the WFEE white paper, as OKBC “neither participates in” WFEE’s operations, nor in its “results.”

OKBC has also pointed to the fact that OKEx had warned its users of the potential risks posed by WFEE in August and included WFEE in their first “Token Delisting/Hiding Guideline [sic].”

So… what of the dumplings?

Amid the flurry of “twisted” media reports, one viral anecdote alleged that the band of investors had brought a hungry — and short-of-cash — Xu some sustenance, namely dumplings, as he underwent questioning at the police station. The story, despite its oddity, appears to have had some traction. Cointelegraph’s Chinese sources, for their part, dismissed it out-of-hand as an unthinkable and breathless piece of confected hearsay.

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Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe

Gone are the days when shady dealings in crypto were perceived as immune to the clutches of law enforcement.

Illicit crypto proceeds can be shuttled between wallet addresses at the click of a mouse, and their obfuscation behind the multiple strings of numbers and letters of wallet addresses can create a dizzying — if not impenetrable — cryptographic maze for authorities to navigate.

But the criminals themselves present a more concrete target, and as they interface with everything from crafty code to unwieldy hardware to ‘traditional’ firearms, there has been some success in 2018 in nabbing some of the year’s darkest — and most imaginative — offenders.

From soap actors to former lawmakers, Cointelegraph takes stock of some of the most illustrious arrests of the figures behind crypto’s high crimes and misdemeanours this year.

Foiled supercomputer Bitcoin heist in Russian nuclear no-man’s land

In February, Russian security agents scored a coup against a group of nuclear engineers at a top-secret nuclear warhead facility who tried to use one of the country’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

The engineers worked at the Federal Nuclear Center in the western city of Sarov — formerly one of the Soviet Union’s closed-off cities, unmarked on historic maps and shrouded in secrecy.

As one of the Soviet “closed administrative territorial entities,” Sarov was then known as Arzamas-16, and was the center of research and production for the first Soviet atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb under Joseph Stalin. Special permits are still required today for ordinary Russians to visit it.

With such a stellar off-grid history, you’d think the Bitcoin-hungry nuclear engineers might have suspected that connecting the site’s supercomputer — a 1 petaflop titan with a capacity for 1,000 trillion calculations per second — to the internet might draw just a little attention.

As soon as the engineers tried to bring it online, the security department was alerted and was able to foil the scientists, who were peremptorily handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Tatiana Zalesskaya, the head of the press service for the research institute, told the Interfax news agency that that the attempt was a “technically hopeless and criminally punishable offense.”

A criminal case was reportedly duly opened against them.

Contentiously, it has been alleged that the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 was produced in Sarov, which houses a plant that is said to be the “world’s only commercial producer of the substance,” according to evidence presented before a court in the United Kingdom.

Sarov’s rogue scientists are not the only ones to have thought of using former Soviet military spaces for crypto mining. The Ice Rock Mining firm has plans to — legally — set up mining operations in a former Soviet bunker located in a cave in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Caught in the headlights: Thai actor “Boom” arrested on set for alleged crypto fraud family affair

This summer, reports emerged tied to the story of a Finnish millionaire allegedly fooled by a Thai crypto investment scam — to the tune of Bitcoin worth 797 million baht ($24.62 million) at the time.

According to the Thai Crime Suppression Division (CSD), the 22-year-old Finn, identified as Aarni Otava Saarimaa, claimed he had been lured into investing his Bitcoin into several companies, a casino and the gambling-focused crypto token Dragon Coin.

Saarima’s business partner, the Thai businessman Chonnikan Kaeosali, reportedly first approached the CSD in January this year, outlining how the pair had been drawn to purchase shares in three firms — Expay Group, NX Chain Inc. and DNA 2002 Plc — that were purported to be investors in Dragon Coin. He said they had first been approached in connection with the affair by a local Thai group back in June 2017.

The fraudsters are said to have taken their would-be victims around a Macau-based casino where they claimed the gambling-focused token would soon be used. Saarima subsequently transferred his crypto but never saw returns, shareholder papers nor any proof of investment in Dragon Coin.

As the CSD’s investigations unfolded, they identified a group of nine suspects — three of whom were revealed to be a group of siblings from the Jaravijit family. The suspects are said to have swiftly sold the crypto for local fiat currency, dispersing the spoils between various bank accounts.

It was the arrest of one of the siblings this summer — a dapper 27-year-old soap-opera star known as Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit — that first brought the case to public light.  

On Aug. 9, Boom was taken into custody on money laundering charges in the midst of filming at the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Local media noted it was the day after the star’s birthday.

It was alleged that the actor had colluded with his siblings to launder the swindled money, after investigations revealed they had bought 14 plots of land worth 176 million baht ($5.44 million).

Boom’s brother, Prinya Jaravijit, is said to have been the ringleader of the scheme, having reportedly received a tip-off from a Thai banker about the wealthy Finn and then setting the heist in motion. Prinya has reportedly fled to South Korea, while Boom’s sister is said to have made contact with the CSD to turn herself in.

The CSD has sought arrest warrants for a further six suspects and frozen a total of 51 different bank accounts in addition to the siblings’ land.

Boom was temporarily released on a 2 million baht ($61,827) bail bond on the condition that he would not leave the country, having argued that his arrest on set in a public place was ample proof he had not been intending to flee.

Earlier this month, another Jaravijit sibling turned himself in to deny the fraud charges, while police met two further suspects: Prasit Srisuwan, a well-known stock trader, and Chakris Ahmad.

Boom’s parents, Mr. Suwit and Ms. Lertchatkamol, have also been questioned after police traced that 90 million baht ($2.78 million) had been transferred to their accounts. Both have denied involvement.

India: Former ruling party lawmaker nabbed “fast asleep” on a construction site

As news of the many-tentacled Bitconnect investment heist continues to unfold globally, recent developments have unearthed a web of kidnappings and extortions allegedly tied to Bitconnect investors in the wealthy state of Gujarat.  

Earlier this month, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was remanded in custody for allegedly conspiring with local police to kidnap and extort Bitcoin from a Gujarati Bitconnect investor.

In February, a Surat-based builder by the name of Shailesh Bhatt had charged into the Home Minister’s office in the Indian state of Gujarat, alleging that 10 district cops had kidnapped and extorted him for 176 BTC, worth 9.45 crore* rupee (around $1.31 million).

*A crore rupee denotes 10 million and is equal to 100 lakh rupee in the Indian numbering system (1 lakh rupee denotes 100,000)

The band of 10 was alleged to have comprised not only rank-and-file constables but even a superintendent and a local Crime Branch Inspector.

Bhatt, who is said to have been known for his penchant for Bitcoin trading, claimed he had been duped by one of his business aides, Kirit Paladiya, into thinking that the authorities were keeping him under close watch for his crypto dealings.

He alleged he had been lured by a phone call from his local Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), where he was allegedly beaten in a “torture room” and asked by a CBI official to pay a cash ransom.

Two days later, he claimed he was kidnapped during a meeting with his aide Paladiya near a fuel station, where he was whisked off to a local farm house. There, he said, “[the police officers] beat me up inside a room and threatened to kill me […] if I did not hand over my Bitcoins.”

Bhatt then accused Paladiya of double-crossing him in cahoots with his influential uncle, the former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, who he claimed had been the one who pressured him into paying the ransom.

Bhatt has himself been subsequently accused of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has become embroiled in a case pertaining to an alleged earlier extortion of a staggering 1.55 billion rupee ($215 million) worth of crypto and cash at gunpoint — including around 2,400 BTC — from two colleagues of well-known local Bitconnect promoter Satish Kumbhani.  

However, Indian authorities nonetheless believed there is some weight behind the accusations against the former lawmaker Kotadiya, first issuing an arrest warrant against him in mid-May.

Kotadiya has repeatedly hit back against the allegations, notably via a WhatsApp video — reposted on Youtube in late April — in which, attired in pink, he claimed he had duly informed authorities about the Bitcoin heist and attributed the full blame for the extortion scandal and conspiracy to Bhatt.

Moreover, he threatened to leak evidence that would implicate even more local politicians in the scandal, saying that Bhatt was protecting them and therefore attempting to “fix him” in the case.

Nonetheless, by mid-June, a local sessions judge declared Kotadiya a “proclaimed offender” (absconder) and demanded he appear before the court within 30 days.

As Kotadiya continued to elude the clutches of law enforcement throughout summer, he was finally nabbed after four months in hiding on Sept. 10. He was reportedly found “fast asleep” on the second floor of a railway quarters still under construction, after a local contractor gave police the golden tip-off.

“When we [eventually] found him, he was sleeping on a mattress and there was just an earthen pot of water in the room.”

As Cointelegraph has reported, Kotadiya’s alleged embroilment has been a political gold mine for the opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), who allege that further members of the ruling BJP have used the Bitconnect scam to launder undeclared “black” money.

“The finger of suspicion of this massive scam of illegal cryptocurrency directly points to several top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and a mastermind — an absconding BJP leader and former MLA Nalin Kotadiya […] Who are the top BJP leaders against whom Kotadiya has damning evidence? We demand an impartial Supreme Court-monitored judicial investigation.”

As of press time, the time of Kotadiya’s custody is up, yet the alleged evidence he claims to wield is yet to have been made public.

Iceland’s Bitcoin miner heist: A high-gliding fugitive and suspect hardware in Tianjin

This year, what has been described as one of Iceland’s “largest criminal cases in history” has seen an outlandish set of twists and turns, leading all the way to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

In February, news broke of a series of unprecedented thefts, involving powerful computing equipment that had been stolen in a “highly organized” Bitcoin mining heist. Three burglaries were reported to have taken place in December 2017 and a fourth in January.

The burglars had allegedly swiped 20 million krónur (around $180,000) worth of equipment — 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs and 100 CPU processors — from a house in the municipality of Reykjanesbær.

They had also allegedly broken into data centers across both Reykjanesbær and Borgarbyggð, with a total of 600 computers stolen from both places, worth 200 million krónur (almost $2 million). The whereabouts of the equipment, including the computers — said to have been used for Bitcoin mining — remained untraceable, even as authorities monitored energy consumption for suspicious increases.

Police are said to have initially arrested eleven suspects — two of which were ordered to remain in custody, after the Icelandic IT firm Advania produced incriminating surveillance footage taken at the data center in Reykjanesbær. The authorities soon recovered most of the stolen equipment, yet the 600 computers remained elusive. Both suspects were reported in local media as being “uncooperative.”

Then, on April 17, one of the detainees escaped at 1 a.m. from his custody in an “open” (low-security) prison, just a week before authorities were due to move forward with an indictment.

The fugitive, Sindri Thor Stefánsson, fled the country on a passport bearing another man’s name, boarding a passenger plane to Sweden that was embarrassingly revealed to have been carrying Iceland’s prime minister.

Stefánsson subsequently released a statement claiming he had been “legally allowed” to travel on the day he boarded the plane to Stockholm, as his custody ruling expired April 16 and a judge had requested 24 hours to consider its renewal. This, according, to him, left a brief interim during which the warrant for his custody was legally invalid.

He vowed to return home “soon,” telling reporters he would be challenging his two-and-a-half-month custody at the European Court of Human Rights.

Days later, he was arrested in central Amsterdam, after a photo published on Instagram with the hashtag #teamsindri allegedly gave him away, according to media outlet Iceland Monitor. Police at the time did not confirm this was the case.

Allegedly incriminating Instagram snap of Stefánsson in Amsterdam: Source: Iceland Monitor

Despite #teamsindri reportedly briefly trending across Icelandic Twitter, the case last month came to a head when a judge charged Stefánsson — alongside six others — with the theft of the 600 computers. While Stefánsson’s charge has been confirmed as theft, it remains unclear what role the other six defendants are charged with as having in the incident.

Just days after Stefansson’s Amsterdam stint, police in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin seized 600 computers used to mine Bitcoin, after abnormal electricity usage attracted the attention of the local power grid operator. Local media outlets reported the case as being the “largest power theft case in recent years,” but it notably also drew the attention of authorities back in Iceland, who suspected the exact number match of suspect hardware was more than just an uncanny coincidence.

Icelandic police subsequently reached out to Chinese authorities to try to link the two cases, yet no results have been reported since then.

“One of the best out there”: A teenage SIM-swapping crypto hacker with a taste for luxury cars

Last month, Californian police nabbed a hacker who allegedly stole Bitcoin worth over $1 million via a series of so-called ‘SIM-swapping’ heists — also known as ‘port-out scams.’ The 19-year-old suspect, identified as Xzavyer Narvaez, is said to have specialized in stealing cell phone numbers and using them to hijack online financial and social media accounts tied to those numbers.

A SIM-swap attack results in the victim suddenly losing all service, with any incoming calls or text messages redirected to the attacker’s device. As many firms use automated messages or phone calls to handle customer authentication, SIM swaps can be a goldmine in deft hands.  

Prosecutors allege that Narvaez used his ill-gotten crypto proceeds to purchase luxury goods, including a $200,000 high-performance McLaren sport car, which were tracked through records obtained from Bitcoin payment provider BitPay.

According to cybercrime blog Krebs on Security, the investigators interviewed several alleged victims of Narvaez, one of whom claimed he was robbed of $150,000 in crypto after his SIM was hijacked.

Between March and June 2018 alone, Narvaez’s account on crypto exchange Bittrex reportedly saw a flow of a staggering 157 BTC. He subsequently faced charges on four counts of using personal identifying information without authorization; four counts of altering and damaging computer data with intent to defraud or obtain money, or other value; and grand theft of personal property of a value over $950,000, according to court documents.

VICE’s parallel investigations traced Narvaez’s impressive “credentials” in the SIM-swapping underworld, with one source telling the magazine that he was considered “one of the best […] out there.” VICE’s source provided screenshots of Narvaez’s former Instagram account, which allegedly featured euphoric photos of his fresh, 2018 snow white McLaren, accompanied by the caption “live fast, die young.”

Narvaez is said to have come under the radar of law enforcement following the arrest of one Joel Ortiz, described as “a gifted 20-year-old college student from Boston” who was charged this July with using SIM swaps to swipe over $5 million in crypto from 40 different victims.

A redacted “statement of facts” in the case obtained by Krebs revealed that records obtained from Google had traced that a cellular device used by Ortiz to commit SIM swaps had at one point been used to access the Google account identified as Xzavyer.Narvaez@gmail.com.

In an unrelated case this July, Florida police reportedly arrested a 25-year-old, Ricky Joseph Handschumacher, who was accused of being part of a multi-state, cyber-fraud SIM-swapping ring that operated over the course of two years.

The gang of nine — scattered across different states — was initially tracked in February, when a “worried mom” overheard her son talking on the phone impersonating a telecoms firm employee. The group is alleged to have “routinely paid” employees at cell phone companies to assist in their schemes and to even have discussed a plan to hack accounts belonging to the CEO of the high-profile Gemini Trust company — namely those of Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss.

Handschumacher himself posted multiple flashy purchases — including a pickup truck, multiple all-terrain vehicles and jet skis — on his public Facebook profile. Subpoenas to Coinbase revealed he had sold 82 BTC through his account, “virtually all” of which were not purchased on the platform.

As law enforcement closed in on this host of spry and unabashed millennial SIM swappers, in August, a U.S. investor filed a $224 million lawsuit, taking on telecoms giant AT&T. Michael Terpin accused the firm of alleged negligence, claiming that $24 million in crypto was stolen via a “digital identity theft” of his cell phone account.

His complaint alleged that:

“What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner.”

“Fake news”: OKEx CEO “detained” for alleged fraud

The most recent high-profile, crypto-related “detention” involves OKEx CEO Star Xu, who was the subject of a host of conflicting media reports — and even one viral dumpling-related anecdote — following his sudden tête-à-tête with Chinese authorities this month.

Xu has robustly hit back at rumors that fraud was the reason for his purported ‘arrest,’ after local media reported that he had faced problems at his hotel from a group of investors in WFEE Coin, a blockchain WiFi sharing project they claimed Xu held shares in.

The allegedly defrauded victims had reportedly contacted Shanghai police, who “summoned” the CEO to a police station on Sept. 10 to “put [him] through a round of questioning to get to the bottom of the rumors,” as tech news source ZeroHedge wrote at the time.

A photograph of a police report about Xu on local news outlet Sina Technology appeared to confirm that the police had been notified at 5:59 p.m. on Sept. 10.

Image of police report allegedly involving Star Xu’s detention. Source: Sina Technology

At the same time, alternative sources in China claimed the investors were in fact traders incensed by system failures on the OKEx exchange itself. As Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled on Sept. 5, OKEx platform crashes are alleged to have left users unable to close or otherwise salvage their positions, with losses all the more acute in the case of leveraged trades.

Cointelegraph’s own Chinese sources have since thrown some degree of light on what had spiralled into a sordid media affair, substantiating suspicions that much of the hearsay was indeed “fake news.”

The sources have emphasized that Xu was the one who approached the police of his own accord. In their account, on Sept. 10, Xu had arrived at the Shanghai office of OK Group to meet with customers and conduct other business affairs. He had also — incidentally — made an appointment at the office to meet with a prospective personal fitness coach.

There, the first troubles with the disgruntled investors are said to have begun — who are thought to have been a mix of OKCoin and WFEE Coin investors. Some ambiguity remains as to their exact identity — and whether they were indeed railing against problems tied to the OKEx exchange or held Xu responsible for the vicissitudes of the WFEE token, or a mix of both.

Having gotten wind of Xu’s visit to Shanghai, the aggrieved group is alleged to have been responsible for vandalizing the sign at the city’s OK Group office, as appears to be shown in the following photograph:

Photo showing the apparent vandalization of OK Group’s entrance sign at the Shanghai office

An alarmed Xu is said to have headed back to his hotel, telling his prospective coach to make her way there as well, so as to resume their meeting. The investors are alleged to have then followed the woman’s tracks, suspecting she would lead them to Xu. There, they are alleged to have knocked on the door of the CEO’s room, threatening him.

After four tense hours, Xu is said to have alerted the police. The investors are again alleged to have followed his trail, whereupon Xu called a group of “henchmen” to join him at the police station. At this point, the investors are said to have taken fright and approached the authorities themselves.

In an interview published soon after his release, Xu confirmed he had been held by Shanghai police, seeming to imply he had made the contact on his own initiative:

“In Shanghai, someone reported that I was defrauding. I went to the police station to explain the situation and proved to the police that I did not swindle.”

On Twitter, OKEx COO Cheung also stated that Xu had been encircled by a group in Shanghai, although in his account, the police are said to have arrived to the scene themselves and moved all parties involved to the station. Cheung alleged that:

“While Star was invited to help with the investigation and those people was detained, they raised a fraud complaint against Star. Star stayed to clarify and then left afterward.”

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, no one was witness to Xu’s departure from the station, and it remains unclear how long he spent there.

Xu has stated that while it is “normal” for citizens to exercise their right to make such allegations, he has equally fulfilled his “duty” as a citizen by cooperating with the authorities. In terms of his alleged responsibility for system “abnormalities” on the exchange, Xu has responded that:

“I am not a legal person of OKEx, nor am I a shareholder or a director.”

This point was echoed in Cheung’s parallel tweets, in which the COO stressed that “Star is the founder of OK Group, [and] although we are good friends, he does not run OKEx.” Cheung has added that he felt “disappointed that the story was twisted before the truth came out.”

Local news outlet Jiemian has meanwhile reported that seven out of a total of 300 investors who claimed to have “suffered heavy losses” on the OKEx exchange have since reached a form of settlement with Xu. Notably, repeated system failures are alleged to have caused a total economic loss of “around 300 million yuan.”

In his post-release interview, Xu stressed that while leveraged trading is a “neutral tool in itself,” it is “not suitable for ordinary investors” as the potential for accelerated net profits and losses requires “professional knowledge” to manage the risks involved.

As Jiemian noted, while OKEx offers investors the opportunity to add as much as 20 times leverage to their contracts, unlike traditional futures trading platforms, the exchange operates without regulatory oversight.

As for the WFEE connection, OK Blockchain Capital (OKBC) — a strategic partner of OKEx and a subsidiary of OK Group — has publicly refuted the allegations that Xu had any shares in the project, tweeting on Sept. 12 that:

“The rumor that OK Group founder Star Xu [is] a shareholder of WFEE is fake. Mr. Xu has no equity relationship with WFEE and its company.”

OKBC has further clarified its own relationship with WFEE, stating that “OKBC is one of the institutional investors of WFEE.” WFEE reportedly “acquired OKBC’s and several other capitals’ investments […] when it was still the prime partner of WeShare WiFi — a global leading WiFi sharing company.” The firm added that it had not been notified of subsequent changes to the WFEE white paper, as OKBC “neither participates in” WFEE’s operations, nor in its “results.”

OKBC has also pointed to the fact that OKEx had warned its users of the potential risks posed by WFEE in August and included WFEE in their first “Token Delisting/Hiding Guideline [sic].”

So… what of the dumplings?

Amid the flurry of “twisted” media reports, one viral anecdote alleged that the band of investors had brought a hungry — and short-of-cash — Xu some sustenance, namely dumplings, as he underwent questioning at the police station. The story, despite its oddity, appears to have had some traction. Cointelegraph’s Chinese sources, for their part, dismissed it out-of-hand as an unthinkable and breathless piece of confected hearsay.

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The post Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe appeared first on Review: Legit or Scam?.

Read more from → https://legit-scam.review/arrests-making-headlines-across-the-globe-8

[legit-scam-review]

Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe

Gone are the days when shady dealings in crypto were perceived as immune to the clutches of law enforcement.

Illicit crypto proceeds can be shuttled between wallet addresses at the click of a mouse, and their obfuscation behind the multiple strings of numbers and letters of wallet addresses can create a dizzying — if not impenetrable — cryptographic maze for authorities to navigate.

But the criminals themselves present a more concrete target, and as they interface with everything from crafty code to unwieldy hardware to ‘traditional’ firearms, there has been some success in 2018 in nabbing some of the year’s darkest — and most imaginative — offenders.

From soap actors to former lawmakers, Cointelegraph takes stock of some of the most illustrious arrests of the figures behind crypto’s high crimes and misdemeanours this year.

Foiled supercomputer Bitcoin heist in Russian nuclear no-man’s land

In February, Russian security agents scored a coup against a group of nuclear engineers at a top-secret nuclear warhead facility who tried to use one of the country’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

The engineers worked at the Federal Nuclear Center in the western city of Sarov — formerly one of the Soviet Union’s closed-off cities, unmarked on historic maps and shrouded in secrecy.

As one of the Soviet “closed administrative territorial entities,” Sarov was then known as Arzamas-16, and was the center of research and production for the first Soviet atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb under Joseph Stalin. Special permits are still required today for ordinary Russians to visit it.

With such a stellar off-grid history, you’d think the Bitcoin-hungry nuclear engineers might have suspected that connecting the site’s supercomputer — a 1 petaflop titan with a capacity for 1,000 trillion calculations per second — to the internet might draw just a little attention.

As soon as the engineers tried to bring it online, the security department was alerted and was able to foil the scientists, who were peremptorily handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Tatiana Zalesskaya, the head of the press service for the research institute, told the Interfax news agency that that the attempt was a “technically hopeless and criminally punishable offense.”

A criminal case was reportedly duly opened against them.

Contentiously, it has been alleged that the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 was produced in Sarov, which houses a plant that is said to be the “world’s only commercial producer of the substance,” according to evidence presented before a court in the United Kingdom.

Sarov’s rogue scientists are not the only ones to have thought of using former Soviet military spaces for crypto mining. The Ice Rock Mining firm has plans to — legally — set up mining operations in a former Soviet bunker located in a cave in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Caught in the headlights: Thai actor “Boom” arrested on set for alleged crypto fraud family affair

This summer, reports emerged tied to the story of a Finnish millionaire allegedly fooled by a Thai crypto investment scam — to the tune of Bitcoin worth 797 million baht ($24.62 million) at the time.

According to the Thai Crime Suppression Division (CSD), the 22-year-old Finn, identified as Aarni Otava Saarimaa, claimed he had been lured into investing his Bitcoin into several companies, a casino and the gambling-focused crypto token Dragon Coin.

Saarima’s business partner, the Thai businessman Chonnikan Kaeosali, reportedly first approached the CSD in January this year, outlining how the pair had been drawn to purchase shares in three firms — Expay Group, NX Chain Inc. and DNA 2002 Plc — that were purported to be investors in Dragon Coin. He said they had first been approached in connection with the affair by a local Thai group back in June 2017.

The fraudsters are said to have taken their would-be victims around a Macau-based casino where they claimed the gambling-focused token would soon be used. Saarima subsequently transferred his crypto but never saw returns, shareholder papers nor any proof of investment in Dragon Coin.

As the CSD’s investigations unfolded, they identified a group of nine suspects — three of whom were revealed to be a group of siblings from the Jaravijit family. The suspects are said to have swiftly sold the crypto for local fiat currency, dispersing the spoils between various bank accounts.

It was the arrest of one of the siblings this summer — a dapper 27-year-old soap-opera star known as Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit — that first brought the case to public light.  

On Aug. 9, Boom was taken into custody on money laundering charges in the midst of filming at the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Local media noted it was the day after the star’s birthday.

It was alleged that the actor had colluded with his siblings to launder the swindled money, after investigations revealed they had bought 14 plots of land worth 176 million baht ($5.44 million).

Boom’s brother, Prinya Jaravijit, is said to have been the ringleader of the scheme, having reportedly received a tip-off from a Thai banker about the wealthy Finn and then setting the heist in motion. Prinya has reportedly fled to South Korea, while Boom’s sister is said to have made contact with the CSD to turn herself in.

The CSD has sought arrest warrants for a further six suspects and frozen a total of 51 different bank accounts in addition to the siblings’ land.

Boom was temporarily released on a 2 million baht ($61,827) bail bond on the condition that he would not leave the country, having argued that his arrest on set in a public place was ample proof he had not been intending to flee.

Earlier this month, another Jaravijit sibling turned himself in to deny the fraud charges, while police met two further suspects: Prasit Srisuwan, a well-known stock trader, and Chakris Ahmad.

Boom’s parents, Mr. Suwit and Ms. Lertchatkamol, have also been questioned after police traced that 90 million baht ($2.78 million) had been transferred to their accounts. Both have denied involvement.

India: Former ruling party lawmaker nabbed “fast asleep” on a construction site

As news of the many-tentacled Bitconnect investment heist continues to unfold globally, recent developments have unearthed a web of kidnappings and extortions allegedly tied to Bitconnect investors in the wealthy state of Gujarat.  

Earlier this month, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was remanded in custody for allegedly conspiring with local police to kidnap and extort Bitcoin from a Gujarati Bitconnect investor.

In February, a Surat-based builder by the name of Shailesh Bhatt had charged into the Home Minister’s office in the Indian state of Gujarat, alleging that 10 district cops had kidnapped and extorted him for 176 BTC, worth 9.45 crore* rupee (around $1.31 million).

*A crore rupee denotes 10 million and is equal to 100 lakh rupee in the Indian numbering system (1 lakh rupee denotes 100,000)

The band of 10 was alleged to have comprised not only rank-and-file constables but even a superintendent and a local Crime Branch Inspector.

Bhatt, who is said to have been known for his penchant for Bitcoin trading, claimed he had been duped by one of his business aides, Kirit Paladiya, into thinking that the authorities were keeping him under close watch for his crypto dealings.

He alleged he had been lured by a phone call from his local Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), where he was allegedly beaten in a “torture room” and asked by a CBI official to pay a cash ransom.

Two days later, he claimed he was kidnapped during a meeting with his aide Paladiya near a fuel station, where he was whisked off to a local farm house. There, he said, “[the police officers] beat me up inside a room and threatened to kill me […] if I did not hand over my Bitcoins.”

Bhatt then accused Paladiya of double-crossing him in cahoots with his influential uncle, the former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, who he claimed had been the one who pressured him into paying the ransom.

Bhatt has himself been subsequently accused of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has become embroiled in a case pertaining to an alleged earlier extortion of a staggering 1.55 billion rupee ($215 million) worth of crypto and cash at gunpoint — including around 2,400 BTC — from two colleagues of well-known local Bitconnect promoter Satish Kumbhani.  

However, Indian authorities nonetheless believed there is some weight behind the accusations against the former lawmaker Kotadiya, first issuing an arrest warrant against him in mid-May.

Kotadiya has repeatedly hit back against the allegations, notably via a WhatsApp video — reposted on Youtube in late April — in which, attired in pink, he claimed he had duly informed authorities about the Bitcoin heist and attributed the full blame for the extortion scandal and conspiracy to Bhatt.

Moreover, he threatened to leak evidence that would implicate even more local politicians in the scandal, saying that Bhatt was protecting them and therefore attempting to “fix him” in the case.

Nonetheless, by mid-June, a local sessions judge declared Kotadiya a “proclaimed offender” (absconder) and demanded he appear before the court within 30 days.

As Kotadiya continued to elude the clutches of law enforcement throughout summer, he was finally nabbed after four months in hiding on Sept. 10. He was reportedly found “fast asleep” on the second floor of a railway quarters still under construction, after a local contractor gave police the golden tip-off.

“When we [eventually] found him, he was sleeping on a mattress and there was just an earthen pot of water in the room.”

As Cointelegraph has reported, Kotadiya’s alleged embroilment has been a political gold mine for the opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), who allege that further members of the ruling BJP have used the Bitconnect scam to launder undeclared “black” money.

“The finger of suspicion of this massive scam of illegal cryptocurrency directly points to several top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and a mastermind — an absconding BJP leader and former MLA Nalin Kotadiya […] Who are the top BJP leaders against whom Kotadiya has damning evidence? We demand an impartial Supreme Court-monitored judicial investigation.”

As of press time, the time of Kotadiya’s custody is up, yet the alleged evidence he claims to wield is yet to have been made public.

Iceland’s Bitcoin miner heist: A high-gliding fugitive and suspect hardware in Tianjin

This year, what has been described as one of Iceland’s “largest criminal cases in history” has seen an outlandish set of twists and turns, leading all the way to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

In February, news broke of a series of unprecedented thefts, involving powerful computing equipment that had been stolen in a “highly organized” Bitcoin mining heist. Three burglaries were reported to have taken place in December 2017 and a fourth in January.

The burglars had allegedly swiped 20 million krónur (around $180,000) worth of equipment — 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs and 100 CPU processors — from a house in the municipality of Reykjanesbær.

They had also allegedly broken into data centers across both Reykjanesbær and Borgarbyggð, with a total of 600 computers stolen from both places, worth 200 million krónur (almost $2 million). The whereabouts of the equipment, including the computers — said to have been used for Bitcoin mining — remained untraceable, even as authorities monitored energy consumption for suspicious increases.

Police are said to have initially arrested eleven suspects — two of which were ordered to remain in custody, after the Icelandic IT firm Advania produced incriminating surveillance footage taken at the data center in Reykjanesbær. The authorities soon recovered most of the stolen equipment, yet the 600 computers remained elusive. Both suspects were reported in local media as being “uncooperative.”

Then, on April 17, one of the detainees escaped at 1 a.m. from his custody in an “open” (low-security) prison, just a week before authorities were due to move forward with an indictment.

The fugitive, Sindri Thor Stefánsson, fled the country on a passport bearing another man’s name, boarding a passenger plane to Sweden that was embarrassingly revealed to have been carrying Iceland’s prime minister.

Stefánsson subsequently released a statement claiming he had been “legally allowed” to travel on the day he boarded the plane to Stockholm, as his custody ruling expired April 16 and a judge had requested 24 hours to consider its renewal. This, according, to him, left a brief interim during which the warrant for his custody was legally invalid.

He vowed to return home “soon,” telling reporters he would be challenging his two-and-a-half-month custody at the European Court of Human Rights.

Days later, he was arrested in central Amsterdam, after a photo published on Instagram with the hashtag #teamsindri allegedly gave him away, according to media outlet Iceland Monitor. Police at the time did not confirm this was the case.

Allegedly incriminating Instagram snap of Stefánsson in Amsterdam: Source: Iceland Monitor

Despite #teamsindri reportedly briefly trending across Icelandic Twitter, the case last month came to a head when a judge charged Stefánsson — alongside six others — with the theft of the 600 computers. While Stefánsson’s charge has been confirmed as theft, it remains unclear what role the other six defendants are charged with as having in the incident.

Just days after Stefansson’s Amsterdam stint, police in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin seized 600 computers used to mine Bitcoin, after abnormal electricity usage attracted the attention of the local power grid operator. Local media outlets reported the case as being the “largest power theft case in recent years,” but it notably also drew the attention of authorities back in Iceland, who suspected the exact number match of suspect hardware was more than just an uncanny coincidence.

Icelandic police subsequently reached out to Chinese authorities to try to link the two cases, yet no results have been reported since then.

“One of the best out there”: A teenage SIM-swapping crypto hacker with a taste for luxury cars

Last month, Californian police nabbed a hacker who allegedly stole Bitcoin worth over $1 million via a series of so-called ‘SIM-swapping’ heists — also known as ‘port-out scams.’ The 19-year-old suspect, identified as Xzavyer Narvaez, is said to have specialized in stealing cell phone numbers and using them to hijack online financial and social media accounts tied to those numbers.

A SIM-swap attack results in the victim suddenly losing all service, with any incoming calls or text messages redirected to the attacker’s device. As many firms use automated messages or phone calls to handle customer authentication, SIM swaps can be a goldmine in deft hands.  

Prosecutors allege that Narvaez used his ill-gotten crypto proceeds to purchase luxury goods, including a $200,000 high-performance McLaren sport car, which were tracked through records obtained from Bitcoin payment provider BitPay.

According to cybercrime blog Krebs on Security, the investigators interviewed several alleged victims of Narvaez, one of whom claimed he was robbed of $150,000 in crypto after his SIM was hijacked.

Between March and June 2018 alone, Narvaez’s account on crypto exchange Bittrex reportedly saw a flow of a staggering 157 BTC. He subsequently faced charges on four counts of using personal identifying information without authorization; four counts of altering and damaging computer data with intent to defraud or obtain money, or other value; and grand theft of personal property of a value over $950,000, according to court documents.

VICE’s parallel investigations traced Narvaez’s impressive “credentials” in the SIM-swapping underworld, with one source telling the magazine that he was considered “one of the best […] out there.” VICE’s source provided screenshots of Narvaez’s former Instagram account, which allegedly featured euphoric photos of his fresh, 2018 snow white McLaren, accompanied by the caption “live fast, die young.”

Narvaez is said to have come under the radar of law enforcement following the arrest of one Joel Ortiz, described as “a gifted 20-year-old college student from Boston” who was charged this July with using SIM swaps to swipe over $5 million in crypto from 40 different victims.

A redacted “statement of facts” in the case obtained by Krebs revealed that records obtained from Google had traced that a cellular device used by Ortiz to commit SIM swaps had at one point been used to access the Google account identified as Xzavyer.Narvaez@gmail.com.

In an unrelated case this July, Florida police reportedly arrested a 25-year-old, Ricky Joseph Handschumacher, who was accused of being part of a multi-state, cyber-fraud SIM-swapping ring that operated over the course of two years.

The gang of nine — scattered across different states — was initially tracked in February, when a “worried mom” overheard her son talking on the phone impersonating a telecoms firm employee. The group is alleged to have “routinely paid” employees at cell phone companies to assist in their schemes and to even have discussed a plan to hack accounts belonging to the CEO of the high-profile Gemini Trust company — namely those of Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss.

Handschumacher himself posted multiple flashy purchases — including a pickup truck, multiple all-terrain vehicles and jet skis — on his public Facebook profile. Subpoenas to Coinbase revealed he had sold 82 BTC through his account, “virtually all” of which were not purchased on the platform.

As law enforcement closed in on this host of spry and unabashed millennial SIM swappers, in August, a U.S. investor filed a $224 million lawsuit, taking on telecoms giant AT&T. Michael Terpin accused the firm of alleged negligence, claiming that $24 million in crypto was stolen via a “digital identity theft” of his cell phone account.

His complaint alleged that:

“What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner.”

“Fake news”: OKEx CEO “detained” for alleged fraud

The most recent high-profile, crypto-related “detention” involves OKEx CEO Star Xu, who was the subject of a host of conflicting media reports — and even one viral dumpling-related anecdote — following his sudden tête-à-tête with Chinese authorities this month.

Xu has robustly hit back at rumors that fraud was the reason for his purported ‘arrest,’ after local media reported that he had faced problems at his hotel from a group of investors in WFEE Coin, a blockchain WiFi sharing project they claimed Xu held shares in.

The allegedly defrauded victims had reportedly contacted Shanghai police, who “summoned” the CEO to a police station on Sept. 10 to “put [him] through a round of questioning to get to the bottom of the rumors,” as tech news source ZeroHedge wrote at the time.

A photograph of a police report about Xu on local news outlet Sina Technology appeared to confirm that the police had been notified at 5:59 p.m. on Sept. 10.

Image of police report allegedly involving Star Xu’s detention. Source: Sina Technology

At the same time, alternative sources in China claimed the investors were in fact traders incensed by system failures on the OKEx exchange itself. As Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled on Sept. 5, OKEx platform crashes are alleged to have left users unable to close or otherwise salvage their positions, with losses all the more acute in the case of leveraged trades.

Cointelegraph’s own Chinese sources have since thrown some degree of light on what had spiralled into a sordid media affair, substantiating suspicions that much of the hearsay was indeed “fake news.”

The sources have emphasized that Xu was the one who approached the police of his own accord. In their account, on Sept. 10, Xu had arrived at the Shanghai office of OK Group to meet with customers and conduct other business affairs. He had also — incidentally — made an appointment at the office to meet with a prospective personal fitness coach.

There, the first troubles with the disgruntled investors are said to have begun — who are thought to have been a mix of OKCoin and WFEE Coin investors. Some ambiguity remains as to their exact identity — and whether they were indeed railing against problems tied to the OKEx exchange or held Xu responsible for the vicissitudes of the WFEE token, or a mix of both.

Having gotten wind of Xu’s visit to Shanghai, the aggrieved group is alleged to have been responsible for vandalizing the sign at the city’s OK Group office, as appears to be shown in the following photograph:

Photo showing the apparent vandalization of OK Group’s entrance sign at the Shanghai office

An alarmed Xu is said to have headed back to his hotel, telling his prospective coach to make her way there as well, so as to resume their meeting. The investors are alleged to have then followed the woman’s tracks, suspecting she would lead them to Xu. There, they are alleged to have knocked on the door of the CEO’s room, threatening him.

After four tense hours, Xu is said to have alerted the police. The investors are again alleged to have followed his trail, whereupon Xu called a group of “henchmen” to join him at the police station. At this point, the investors are said to have taken fright and approached the authorities themselves.

In an interview published soon after his release, Xu confirmed he had been held by Shanghai police, seeming to imply he had made the contact on his own initiative:

“In Shanghai, someone reported that I was defrauding. I went to the police station to explain the situation and proved to the police that I did not swindle.”

On Twitter, OKEx COO Cheung also stated that Xu had been encircled by a group in Shanghai, although in his account, the police are said to have arrived to the scene themselves and moved all parties involved to the station. Cheung alleged that:

“While Star was invited to help with the investigation and those people was detained, they raised a fraud complaint against Star. Star stayed to clarify and then left afterward.”

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, no one was witness to Xu’s departure from the station, and it remains unclear how long he spent there.

Xu has stated that while it is “normal” for citizens to exercise their right to make such allegations, he has equally fulfilled his “duty” as a citizen by cooperating with the authorities. In terms of his alleged responsibility for system “abnormalities” on the exchange, Xu has responded that:

“I am not a legal person of OKEx, nor am I a shareholder or a director.”

This point was echoed in Cheung’s parallel tweets, in which the COO stressed that “Star is the founder of OK Group, [and] although we are good friends, he does not run OKEx.” Cheung has added that he felt “disappointed that the story was twisted before the truth came out.”

Local news outlet Jiemian has meanwhile reported that seven out of a total of 300 investors who claimed to have “suffered heavy losses” on the OKEx exchange have since reached a form of settlement with Xu. Notably, repeated system failures are alleged to have caused a total economic loss of “around 300 million yuan.”

In his post-release interview, Xu stressed that while leveraged trading is a “neutral tool in itself,” it is “not suitable for ordinary investors” as the potential for accelerated net profits and losses requires “professional knowledge” to manage the risks involved.

As Jiemian noted, while OKEx offers investors the opportunity to add as much as 20 times leverage to their contracts, unlike traditional futures trading platforms, the exchange operates without regulatory oversight.

As for the WFEE connection, OK Blockchain Capital (OKBC) — a strategic partner of OKEx and a subsidiary of OK Group — has publicly refuted the allegations that Xu had any shares in the project, tweeting on Sept. 12 that:

“The rumor that OK Group founder Star Xu [is] a shareholder of WFEE is fake. Mr. Xu has no equity relationship with WFEE and its company.”

OKBC has further clarified its own relationship with WFEE, stating that “OKBC is one of the institutional investors of WFEE.” WFEE reportedly “acquired OKBC’s and several other capitals’ investments […] when it was still the prime partner of WeShare WiFi — a global leading WiFi sharing company.” The firm added that it had not been notified of subsequent changes to the WFEE white paper, as OKBC “neither participates in” WFEE’s operations, nor in its “results.”

OKBC has also pointed to the fact that OKEx had warned its users of the potential risks posed by WFEE in August and included WFEE in their first “Token Delisting/Hiding Guideline [sic].”

So… what of the dumplings?

Amid the flurry of “twisted” media reports, one viral anecdote alleged that the band of investors had brought a hungry — and short-of-cash — Xu some sustenance, namely dumplings, as he underwent questioning at the police station. The story, despite its oddity, appears to have had some traction. Cointelegraph’s Chinese sources, for their part, dismissed it out-of-hand as an unthinkable and breathless piece of confected hearsay.

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The post Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe appeared first on Review: Legit or Scam?.

Read more from → https://legit-scam.review/arrests-making-headlines-across-the-globe-7

[legit-scam-review]

Arrests Making Headlines Across the Globe

Gone are the days when shady dealings in crypto were perceived as immune to the clutches of law enforcement.

Illicit crypto proceeds can be shuttled between wallet addresses at the click of a mouse, and their obfuscation behind the multiple strings of numbers and letters of wallet addresses can create a dizzying — if not impenetrable — cryptographic maze for authorities to navigate.

But the criminals themselves present a more concrete target, and as they interface with everything from crafty code to unwieldy hardware to ‘traditional’ firearms, there has been some success in 2018 in nabbing some of the year’s darkest — and most imaginative — offenders.

From soap actors to former lawmakers, Cointelegraph takes stock of some of the most illustrious arrests of the figures behind crypto’s high crimes and misdemeanours this year.

Foiled supercomputer Bitcoin heist in Russian nuclear no-man’s land

In February, Russian security agents scored a coup against a group of nuclear engineers at a top-secret nuclear warhead facility who tried to use one of the country’s most powerful supercomputers to mine Bitcoin (BTC).

The engineers worked at the Federal Nuclear Center in the western city of Sarov — formerly one of the Soviet Union’s closed-off cities, unmarked on historic maps and shrouded in secrecy.

As one of the Soviet “closed administrative territorial entities,” Sarov was then known as Arzamas-16, and was the center of research and production for the first Soviet atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb under Joseph Stalin. Special permits are still required today for ordinary Russians to visit it.

With such a stellar off-grid history, you’d think the Bitcoin-hungry nuclear engineers might have suspected that connecting the site’s supercomputer — a 1 petaflop titan with a capacity for 1,000 trillion calculations per second — to the internet might draw just a little attention.

As soon as the engineers tried to bring it online, the security department was alerted and was able to foil the scientists, who were peremptorily handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Tatiana Zalesskaya, the head of the press service for the research institute, told the Interfax news agency that that the attempt was a “technically hopeless and criminally punishable offense.”

A criminal case was reportedly duly opened against them.

Contentiously, it has been alleged that the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 was produced in Sarov, which houses a plant that is said to be the “world’s only commercial producer of the substance,” according to evidence presented before a court in the United Kingdom.

Sarov’s rogue scientists are not the only ones to have thought of using former Soviet military spaces for crypto mining. The Ice Rock Mining firm has plans to — legally — set up mining operations in a former Soviet bunker located in a cave in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Caught in the headlights: Thai actor “Boom” arrested on set for alleged crypto fraud family affair

This summer, reports emerged tied to the story of a Finnish millionaire allegedly fooled by a Thai crypto investment scam — to the tune of Bitcoin worth 797 million baht ($24.62 million) at the time.

According to the Thai Crime Suppression Division (CSD), the 22-year-old Finn, identified as Aarni Otava Saarimaa, claimed he had been lured into investing his Bitcoin into several companies, a casino and the gambling-focused crypto token Dragon Coin.

Saarima’s business partner, the Thai businessman Chonnikan Kaeosali, reportedly first approached the CSD in January this year, outlining how the pair had been drawn to purchase shares in three firms — Expay Group, NX Chain Inc. and DNA 2002 Plc — that were purported to be investors in Dragon Coin. He said they had first been approached in connection with the affair by a local Thai group back in June 2017.

The fraudsters are said to have taken their would-be victims around a Macau-based casino where they claimed the gambling-focused token would soon be used. Saarima subsequently transferred his crypto but never saw returns, shareholder papers nor any proof of investment in Dragon Coin.

As the CSD’s investigations unfolded, they identified a group of nine suspects — three of whom were revealed to be a group of siblings from the Jaravijit family. The suspects are said to have swiftly sold the crypto for local fiat currency, dispersing the spoils between various bank accounts.

It was the arrest of one of the siblings this summer — a dapper 27-year-old soap-opera star known as Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit — that first brought the case to public light.  

On Aug. 9, Boom was taken into custody on money laundering charges in the midst of filming at the Major Cineplex Ratchayothin in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Local media noted it was the day after the star’s birthday.

It was alleged that the actor had colluded with his siblings to launder the swindled money, after investigations revealed they had bought 14 plots of land worth 176 million baht ($5.44 million).

Boom’s brother, Prinya Jaravijit, is said to have been the ringleader of the scheme, having reportedly received a tip-off from a Thai banker about the wealthy Finn and then setting the heist in motion. Prinya has reportedly fled to South Korea, while Boom’s sister is said to have made contact with the CSD to turn herself in.

The CSD has sought arrest warrants for a further six suspects and frozen a total of 51 different bank accounts in addition to the siblings’ land.

Boom was temporarily released on a 2 million baht ($61,827) bail bond on the condition that he would not leave the country, having argued that his arrest on set in a public place was ample proof he had not been intending to flee.

Earlier this month, another Jaravijit sibling turned himself in to deny the fraud charges, while police met two further suspects: Prasit Srisuwan, a well-known stock trader, and Chakris Ahmad.

Boom’s parents, Mr. Suwit and Ms. Lertchatkamol, have also been questioned after police traced that 90 million baht ($2.78 million) had been transferred to their accounts. Both have denied involvement.

India: Former ruling party lawmaker nabbed “fast asleep” on a construction site

As news of the many-tentacled Bitconnect investment heist continues to unfold globally, recent developments have unearthed a web of kidnappings and extortions allegedly tied to Bitconnect investors in the wealthy state of Gujarat.  

Earlier this month, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was remanded in custody for allegedly conspiring with local police to kidnap and extort Bitcoin from a Gujarati Bitconnect investor.

In February, a Surat-based builder by the name of Shailesh Bhatt had charged into the Home Minister’s office in the Indian state of Gujarat, alleging that 10 district cops had kidnapped and extorted him for 176 BTC, worth 9.45 crore* rupee (around $1.31 million).

*A crore rupee denotes 10 million and is equal to 100 lakh rupee in the Indian numbering system (1 lakh rupee denotes 100,000)

The band of 10 was alleged to have comprised not only rank-and-file constables but even a superintendent and a local Crime Branch Inspector.

Bhatt, who is said to have been known for his penchant for Bitcoin trading, claimed he had been duped by one of his business aides, Kirit Paladiya, into thinking that the authorities were keeping him under close watch for his crypto dealings.

He alleged he had been lured by a phone call from his local Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), where he was allegedly beaten in a “torture room” and asked by a CBI official to pay a cash ransom.

Two days later, he claimed he was kidnapped during a meeting with his aide Paladiya near a fuel station, where he was whisked off to a local farm house. There, he said, “[the police officers] beat me up inside a room and threatened to kill me […] if I did not hand over my Bitcoins.”

Bhatt then accused Paladiya of double-crossing him in cahoots with his influential uncle, the former BJP MLA Nalin Kotadiya, who he claimed had been the one who pressured him into paying the ransom.

Bhatt has himself been subsequently accused of being a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He has become embroiled in a case pertaining to an alleged earlier extortion of a staggering 1.55 billion rupee ($215 million) worth of crypto and cash at gunpoint — including around 2,400 BTC — from two colleagues of well-known local Bitconnect promoter Satish Kumbhani.  

However, Indian authorities nonetheless believed there is some weight behind the accusations against the former lawmaker Kotadiya, first issuing an arrest warrant against him in mid-May.

Kotadiya has repeatedly hit back against the allegations, notably via a WhatsApp video — reposted on Youtube in late April — in which, attired in pink, he claimed he had duly informed authorities about the Bitcoin heist and attributed the full blame for the extortion scandal and conspiracy to Bhatt.

Moreover, he threatened to leak evidence that would implicate even more local politicians in the scandal, saying that Bhatt was protecting them and therefore attempting to “fix him” in the case.

Nonetheless, by mid-June, a local sessions judge declared Kotadiya a “proclaimed offender” (absconder) and demanded he appear before the court within 30 days.

As Kotadiya continued to elude the clutches of law enforcement throughout summer, he was finally nabbed after four months in hiding on Sept. 10. He was reportedly found “fast asleep” on the second floor of a railway quarters still under construction, after a local contractor gave police the golden tip-off.

“When we [eventually] found him, he was sleeping on a mattress and there was just an earthen pot of water in the room.”

As Cointelegraph has reported, Kotadiya’s alleged embroilment has been a political gold mine for the opposition party, the Indian National Congress (INC), who allege that further members of the ruling BJP have used the Bitconnect scam to launder undeclared “black” money.

“The finger of suspicion of this massive scam of illegal cryptocurrency directly points to several top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and a mastermind — an absconding BJP leader and former MLA Nalin Kotadiya […] Who are the top BJP leaders against whom Kotadiya has damning evidence? We demand an impartial Supreme Court-monitored judicial investigation.”

As of press time, the time of Kotadiya’s custody is up, yet the alleged evidence he claims to wield is yet to have been made public.

Iceland’s Bitcoin miner heist: A high-gliding fugitive and suspect hardware in Tianjin

This year, what has been described as one of Iceland’s “largest criminal cases in history” has seen an outlandish set of twists and turns, leading all the way to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin.

In February, news broke of a series of unprecedented thefts, involving powerful computing equipment that had been stolen in a “highly organized” Bitcoin mining heist. Three burglaries were reported to have taken place in December 2017 and a fourth in January.

The burglars had allegedly swiped 20 million krónur (around $180,000) worth of equipment — 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs and 100 CPU processors — from a house in the municipality of Reykjanesbær.

They had also allegedly broken into data centers across both Reykjanesbær and Borgarbyggð, with a total of 600 computers stolen from both places, worth 200 million krónur (almost $2 million). The whereabouts of the equipment, including the computers — said to have been used for Bitcoin mining — remained untraceable, even as authorities monitored energy consumption for suspicious increases.

Police are said to have initially arrested eleven suspects — two of which were ordered to remain in custody, after the Icelandic IT firm Advania produced incriminating surveillance footage taken at the data center in Reykjanesbær. The authorities soon recovered most of the stolen equipment, yet the 600 computers remained elusive. Both suspects were reported in local media as being “uncooperative.”

Then, on April 17, one of the detainees escaped at 1 a.m. from his custody in an “open” (low-security) prison, just a week before authorities were due to move forward with an indictment.

The fugitive, Sindri Thor Stefánsson, fled the country on a passport bearing another man’s name, boarding a passenger plane to Sweden that was embarrassingly revealed to have been carrying Iceland’s prime minister.

Stefánsson subsequently released a statement claiming he had been “legally allowed” to travel on the day he boarded the plane to Stockholm, as his custody ruling expired April 16 and a judge had requested 24 hours to consider its renewal. This, according, to him, left a brief interim during which the warrant for his custody was legally invalid.

He vowed to return home “soon,” telling reporters he would be challenging his two-and-a-half-month custody at the European Court of Human Rights.

Days later, he was arrested in central Amsterdam, after a photo published on Instagram with the hashtag #teamsindri allegedly gave him away, according to media outlet Iceland Monitor. Police at the time did not confirm this was the case.

Allegedly incriminating Instagram snap of Stefánsson in Amsterdam: Source: Iceland Monitor

Despite #teamsindri reportedly briefly trending across Icelandic Twitter, the case last month came to a head when a judge charged Stefánsson — alongside six others — with the theft of the 600 computers. While Stefánsson’s charge has been confirmed as theft, it remains unclear what role the other six defendants are charged with as having in the incident.

Just days after Stefansson’s Amsterdam stint, police in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin seized 600 computers used to mine Bitcoin, after abnormal electricity usage attracted the attention of the local power grid operator. Local media outlets reported the case as being the “largest power theft case in recent years,” but it notably also drew the attention of authorities back in Iceland, who suspected the exact number match of suspect hardware was more than just an uncanny coincidence.

Icelandic police subsequently reached out to Chinese authorities to try to link the two cases, yet no results have been reported since then.

“One of the best out there”: A teenage SIM-swapping crypto hacker with a taste for luxury cars

Last month, Californian police nabbed a hacker who allegedly stole Bitcoin worth over $1 million via a series of so-called ‘SIM-swapping’ heists — also known as ‘port-out scams.’ The 19-year-old suspect, identified as Xzavyer Narvaez, is said to have specialized in stealing cell phone numbers and using them to hijack online financial and social media accounts tied to those numbers.

A SIM-swap attack results in the victim suddenly losing all service, with any incoming calls or text messages redirected to the attacker’s device. As many firms use automated messages or phone calls to handle customer authentication, SIM swaps can be a goldmine in deft hands.  

Prosecutors allege that Narvaez used his ill-gotten crypto proceeds to purchase luxury goods, including a $200,000 high-performance McLaren sport car, which were tracked through records obtained from Bitcoin payment provider BitPay.

According to cybercrime blog Krebs on Security, the investigators interviewed several alleged victims of Narvaez, one of whom claimed he was robbed of $150,000 in crypto after his SIM was hijacked.

Between March and June 2018 alone, Narvaez’s account on crypto exchange Bittrex reportedly saw a flow of a staggering 157 BTC. He subsequently faced charges on four counts of using personal identifying information without authorization; four counts of altering and damaging computer data with intent to defraud or obtain money, or other value; and grand theft of personal property of a value over $950,000, according to court documents.

VICE’s parallel investigations traced Narvaez’s impressive “credentials” in the SIM-swapping underworld, with one source telling the magazine that he was considered “one of the best […] out there.” VICE’s source provided screenshots of Narvaez’s former Instagram account, which allegedly featured euphoric photos of his fresh, 2018 snow white McLaren, accompanied by the caption “live fast, die young.”

Narvaez is said to have come under the radar of law enforcement following the arrest of one Joel Ortiz, described as “a gifted 20-year-old college student from Boston” who was charged this July with using SIM swaps to swipe over $5 million in crypto from 40 different victims.

A redacted “statement of facts” in the case obtained by Krebs revealed that records obtained from Google had traced that a cellular device used by Ortiz to commit SIM swaps had at one point been used to access the Google account identified as Xzavyer.Narvaez@gmail.com.

In an unrelated case this July, Florida police reportedly arrested a 25-year-old, Ricky Joseph Handschumacher, who was accused of being part of a multi-state, cyber-fraud SIM-swapping ring that operated over the course of two years.

The gang of nine — scattered across different states — was initially tracked in February, when a “worried mom” overheard her son talking on the phone impersonating a telecoms firm employee. The group is alleged to have “routinely paid” employees at cell phone companies to assist in their schemes and to even have discussed a plan to hack accounts belonging to the CEO of the high-profile Gemini Trust company — namely those of Bitcoin billionaire Tyler Winklevoss.

Handschumacher himself posted multiple flashy purchases — including a pickup truck, multiple all-terrain vehicles and jet skis — on his public Facebook profile. Subpoenas to Coinbase revealed he had sold 82 BTC through his account, “virtually all” of which were not purchased on the platform.

As law enforcement closed in on this host of spry and unabashed millennial SIM swappers, in August, a U.S. investor filed a $224 million lawsuit, taking on telecoms giant AT&T. Michael Terpin accused the firm of alleged negligence, claiming that $24 million in crypto was stolen via a “digital identity theft” of his cell phone account.

His complaint alleged that:

“What AT&T did was like a hotel giving a thief with a fake ID a room key and a key to the room safe to steal jewelry in the safe from the rightful owner.”

“Fake news”: OKEx CEO “detained” for alleged fraud

The most recent high-profile, crypto-related “detention” involves OKEx CEO Star Xu, who was the subject of a host of conflicting media reports — and even one viral dumpling-related anecdote — following his sudden tête-à-tête with Chinese authorities this month.

Xu has robustly hit back at rumors that fraud was the reason for his purported ‘arrest,’ after local media reported that he had faced problems at his hotel from a group of investors in WFEE Coin, a blockchain WiFi sharing project they claimed Xu held shares in.

The allegedly defrauded victims had reportedly contacted Shanghai police, who “summoned” the CEO to a police station on Sept. 10 to “put [him] through a round of questioning to get to the bottom of the rumors,” as tech news source ZeroHedge wrote at the time.

A photograph of a police report about Xu on local news outlet Sina Technology appeared to confirm that the police had been notified at 5:59 p.m. on Sept. 10.

Image of police report allegedly involving Star Xu’s detention. Source: Sina Technology

At the same time, alternative sources in China claimed the investors were in fact traders incensed by system failures on the OKEx exchange itself. As Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled on Sept. 5, OKEx platform crashes are alleged to have left users unable to close or otherwise salvage their positions, with losses all the more acute in the case of leveraged trades.

Cointelegraph’s own Chinese sources have since thrown some degree of light on what had spiralled into a sordid media affair, substantiating suspicions that much of the hearsay was indeed “fake news.”

The sources have emphasized that Xu was the one who approached the police of his own accord. In their account, on Sept. 10, Xu had arrived at the Shanghai office of OK Group to meet with customers and conduct other business affairs. He had also — incidentally — made an appointment at the office to meet with a prospective personal fitness coach.

There, the first troubles with the disgruntled investors are said to have begun — who are thought to have been a mix of OKCoin and WFEE Coin investors. Some ambiguity remains as to their exact identity — and whether they were indeed railing against problems tied to the OKEx exchange or held Xu responsible for the vicissitudes of the WFEE token, or a mix of both.

Having gotten wind of Xu’s visit to Shanghai, the aggrieved group is alleged to have been responsible for vandalizing the sign at the city’s OK Group office, as appears to be shown in the following photograph:

Photo showing the apparent vandalization of OK Group’s entrance sign at the Shanghai office

An alarmed Xu is said to have headed back to his hotel, telling his prospective coach to make her way there as well, so as to resume their meeting. The investors are alleged to have then followed the woman’s tracks, suspecting she would lead them to Xu. There, they are alleged to have knocked on the door of the CEO’s room, threatening him.

After four tense hours, Xu is said to have alerted the police. The investors are again alleged to have followed his trail, whereupon Xu called a group of “henchmen” to join him at the police station. At this point, the investors are said to have taken fright and approached the authorities themselves.

In an interview published soon after his release, Xu confirmed he had been held by Shanghai police, seeming to imply he had made the contact on his own initiative:

“In Shanghai, someone reported that I was defrauding. I went to the police station to explain the situation and proved to the police that I did not swindle.”

On Twitter, OKEx COO Cheung also stated that Xu had been encircled by a group in Shanghai, although in his account, the police are said to have arrived to the scene themselves and moved all parties involved to the station. Cheung alleged that:

“While Star was invited to help with the investigation and those people was detained, they raised a fraud complaint against Star. Star stayed to clarify and then left afterward.”

According to Cointelegraph’s sources, no one was witness to Xu’s departure from the station, and it remains unclear how long he spent there.

Xu has stated that while it is “normal” for citizens to exercise their right to make such allegations, he has equally fulfilled his “duty” as a citizen by cooperating with the authorities. In terms of his alleged responsibility for system “abnormalities” on the exchange, Xu has responded that:

“I am not a legal person of OKEx, nor am I a shareholder or a director.”

This point was echoed in Cheung’s parallel tweets, in which the COO stressed that “Star is the founder of OK Group, [and] although we are good friends, he does not run OKEx.” Cheung has added that he felt “disappointed that the story was twisted before the truth came out.”

Local news outlet Jiemian has meanwhile reported that seven out of a total of 300 investors who claimed to have “suffered heavy losses” on the OKEx exchange have since reached a form of settlement with Xu. Notably, repeated system failures are alleged to have caused a total economic loss of “around 300 million yuan.”

In his post-release interview, Xu stressed that while leveraged trading is a “neutral tool in itself,” it is “not suitable for ordinary investors” as the potential for accelerated net profits and losses requires “professional knowledge” to manage the risks involved.

As Jiemian noted, while OKEx offers investors the opportunity to add as much as 20 times leverage to their contracts, unlike traditional futures trading platforms, the exchange operates without regulatory oversight.

As for the WFEE connection, OK Blockchain Capital (OKBC) — a strategic partner of OKEx and a subsidiary of OK Group — has publicly refuted the allegations that Xu had any shares in the project, tweeting on Sept. 12 that:

“The rumor that OK Group founder Star Xu [is] a shareholder of WFEE is fake. Mr. Xu has no equity relationship with WFEE and its company.”

OKBC has further clarified its own relationship with WFEE, stating that “OKBC is one of the institutional investors of WFEE.” WFEE reportedly “acquired OKBC’s and several other capitals’ investments […] when it was still the prime partner of WeShare WiFi — a global leading WiFi sharing company.” The firm added that it had not been notified of subsequent changes to the WFEE white paper, as OKBC “neither participates in” WFEE’s operations, nor in its “results.”

OKBC has also pointed to the fact that OKEx had warned its users of the potential risks posed by WFEE in August and included WFEE in their first “Token Delisting/Hiding Guideline [sic].”

So… what of the dumplings?

Amid the flurry of “twisted” media reports, one viral anecdote alleged that the band of investors had brought a hungry — and short-of-cash — Xu some sustenance, namely dumplings, as he underwent questioning at the police station. The story, despite its oddity, appears to have had some traction. Cointelegraph’s Chinese sources, for their part, dismissed it out-of-hand as an unthinkable and breathless piece of confected hearsay.

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