Ever since the SwisCoin program was announced, cryptocurrency experts have noticed something was off about the venture. It had all the telltale signs of a cryptocurrency-related pyramid scheme. Although there have been multiple allegations in this regard, no arrests were ever made. That was, until recently, as the Ukrainian national police detained a group of people believed to be connected to SwisCoin. Count this as another victory for the police and legitimate cryptocurrencies in existence today.
SwisCoin Scammers Arrested in Ukraine
Looking back at the original SwisCoin concept, it is not hard to see why people would think this to be an illegitimate business model. Similar to how OneCoin operates, SwisCoin had all the telltale signs of a pyramid scheme waiting to collapse. With its various “investment packages,” it was only a matter of time before the scammers ran off with the money or people stopped contributing funds to this pyramid scheme. It is still unclear which of the two eventually came to be, but we do know the program’s operators have been arrested.
The Ukrainian national police arrested multiple individuals believed to be connected to this scam project. It is unclear how many individuals were arrested, but we do know they all face up to 12 years in prison. All of their assets have been seized, including cash assets, expensive products, various – potentially stolen – payment cards, and a fair amount of actual cryptocurrency as well. It is believed SwisCoin successfully raised US$500,000 from investors, although none of this money was ever put to good use.
Investors were promised that the money would be invested in blockchain infrastructure. Additionally, the money would also supposedly be used as a way to improve the visibility and marketing of this particular currency. Although SwisCoin had an official value for the longest time, there were very few exchanges openly supporting it. Most of the trading occurred within the platform itself, where prices could easily be manipulated by the team.
The scammers used the money for their own personal benefit rather than worry about their promises to investors. This tactic is not uncommon for cryptocurrency-related pyramid schemes, but it shows that people are all too willing to invest in these scams to this very day. The criminals also spread false information about the profits generated by SwisCoin, as it allowed them to improve their visibility in the market and attract more investment.
The police also confiscated a fair amount of weapons at the time of the arrest. This further indicates the alleged SwisCoin operators may have been involved in other illegal activities as well. After all, no one needs a Kalashnikov assault rifle when dealing with cryptocurrency, yet for some reason, these people had several at their disposal. It is a very troublesome scenario, although it remains to be seen what else this investigation can turn up. The criminal case being built against the individuals may reveal other unpleasantries.
Ever since the SwisCoin team held its ICO back in February, no one has heard from the company. The price of the currency fell from US$7.35 all the way to US$0.003764 and no exchanges are actively supporting the digital currency whatsoever. This is not a surprising state of affairs by any means, since the SwisCoin team never had any honest intentions whatsoever. It’s good to see the Ukrainian police arresting these individuals, assuming they are related to this blatant scam.
