Unwitting DOGE investors were promised engaging returns of 100% in just 40 days in exchange for depositing their money.
Turkish media reviews that authorities there are investigating an alleged Dogecoin mining scam that pulled the rug on buyers after amassing a $119 million value of deposits.
An Aug. 23rd report from local channel TV100 broke the information, with police figuring out pseudonymous online avatar “Turgut V.” as the scheme’s suspected operator.
Authorities consider that Turgut and 11 associates managed to gather close to 350 million Dogecoin valued at $119 million before disappearing.
Turgut reportedly solicited investments from 1,500 Turkish citizens, drumming up excitement for the Dogecoin “mining” operation at in-person networking occasions held at ritzy places, and by utilizing a Telegram group online. Investors had been promised returns of 100% in 40 days and reportedly paid returns for around 3 months.
Buyers had been advised that the Dogecoin they sent would procure new tools to mine DOGE. Much like Bitcoin, Dogecoins are created by way of Proof-of-Work mining, where community individuals compete to validate transactions and produce the following block by computationally fixing advanced equations. The miner that solves the equation mines the community’s subsequent block, also receiving all of the crypto contained within it as a reward.
The operation ran easily for its first three months, with early investors receiving their returns as promised. Nevertheless, after the scheme’s total value locked (TVL) peaked at 350 million Dogecoin throughout its fourth month, the funds reportedly disappeared.
The Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Turkish suburb Kucukcekmece is now carrying out an ongoing investigation to locate Turgut and his 11 associates. Authorities have issued an order restricting Turgut and his accomplice Gizem N. from touring exterior the nation.
The recently surging recognition of crypto assets in Turkey has brought with it a rise in scammers seeking to leverage digital assets to dupe victims out of their hard-earned money.
At the end of April, Turkish authorities jailed six suspects associated with the collapse of the local crypto exchange Thodex. The exchange had abruptly halted withdrawal services earlier that month, stranding users’ funds on the platform.
Also in April, 4 workers of the local Vebitcoin exchange had been arrested for allegations of fraud just a day after Vebitcoin announced it would cease operations.