You may or may not have heard of OneCoin.
If you haven’t, here’s a brief overview.
OneCoin was essentially a pyramid scheme, which ran a few years ago under the direction of the “cryptoqueen” Dr Ruja, and involved investors buying packages that had “value” in the form of the cryptocurrency OneCoin.
However, OneCoin wasn’t even a proper cryptocurrency, despite it being dubbed the Bitcoin killer, and it didn’t even have a blockchain. More so, all those people who invested collectively made Dr Ruja and her associates ~$15 billion.
Shes since gone missing – last seen in 2017 – and her brother and lawyer have been arrested by the FBI on scam charges.
There was a cult type following, full of believers that were fully invested in the company, both with their minds and their money. It’s also not believed anyone who invested actually made any money, except everyone at the top, including the missing Dr Ruja.
Dr Ruja is from Bulgaria, and had previously worked at some pretty established firms. On top of this, she studied at Oxford University which gave her a lot of credibility in investors eyes. But, despite her obvious high level of intelligence, she only used these achievements to further trick investors into thinking she was the real deal, and was going to change their lives.
She has officially been charged by the FBI, despite not being found, and, if she ever is found, she can expect a lengthy prison sentence in the USA.
There’s a great video on YouTube describing the ins and outs of the scam, and breaking it down further, you can watch it below.
