Often times we have reported fraudulent cases of looting people in a bid to invest and gain access to cryptocurrencies illegally. But in a recent news, two individuals have alleged impersonated as CFTC officials and tried to steal the bitcoin.
The CFTC or Commodity Futures Trading Commissions have filed a case against Morgan Hunt and Kim Hencroft for “fraudulent solicitation, impersonation of a CFTC investigator and forging CFTC documents”.
As per press release, the two were trying to persuade the public customers to invest in bitcoin and impersonating as regulator individuals.
The alleged Hunt, who claims to be of Arlington, Texas and may be doing business as Diamonds Trading Investment House, and Hecroft, who claims to be from Baltimore, Maryland and may be doing business as First Options Trading, “engaged in a fraudulent scheme to solicit bitcoin from members of the public.”
Among many other allegations, the press release also talks about defendants having managed to forge the documents stating that bitcoin investors needed to pay taxes to the CFTC regulator if they wished to withdraw their bitcoin.
In the wake of such incidents, the CFTC director of enforcement, James McDonald quoted that,
Increased public awareness of the CFTC’s involvement in policing the virtual currency markets has, unfortunately, provided new opportunities for bad actors
Furthermore, he went on to explain that,
The CFTC does not collect taxes. The CFTC is on guard against fraudsters who try to take advantage of the CFTC’s reputation in order to cheat customers, and will take swift action against such misconduct.
As of now, the CFTC is attempting for restitution of the victims, the disgorgement of any gains, penalties, a permanent trading and registration ban for each defendant and a permanent injunction against any further violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and agency regulations.
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