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Instagram Influencer Charged for Allegedly Stealing Millions of Dollars in Bitcoin From Followers

27/03/2021 by Idelto Editor

Popular Instagram Personality Charged After Stealing Bitcoins Worth Millions of Dollars From Followers

A popular Instagram personality has been charged in the U.S., accused of stealing bitcoins worth millions of dollars from his followers. He allegedly convinced the “victims to sell him their bitcoin at attractive, but inflated, values” but he never wired them the money for the coins sent to him.

Instagram Influencer’s Bitcoin Scam

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that a popular Instagram personality known as “Jay Mazini” has been charged with wire fraud related to a bitcoin scam. The Justice Department wrote:

A complaint was filed in federal court in Brooklyn yesterday charging Jegara Igbara, also known as ‘Jay Mazini,’ with wire fraud related to a scheme in which the defendant allegedly induced victims to send him bitcoin by falsely claiming to have sent wire transfers of cash in exchange for the bitcoin.

The DOJ explained that “In reality, Igbara never sent the money, and stole at least $2.5 million worth of bitcoin from victims.”

Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko described that Igbara “used his immense social media popularity to dupe his followers into selling him bitcoin … at attractive, but inflated, values.” IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Jonathan Larsen similarly noted that “This defendant allegedly used his online popularity to defraud those seeking to exchange bitcoin for cash above the market value.”

According to the complaint, up until March this year, “Igbara, under the name ‘Jay Mazini,’ maintained a popular Instagram account with nearly one million followers where he would post videos depicting himself handing out large amounts of cash to individuals as gifts.” The DOJ detailed:

Beginning in or around January 2021, Igbara began posting videos to his Instagram account offering to buy bitcoin from other Instagram users at prices 3.5% to 5% over market value.

“Igbara claimed that he was willing to pay above-market prices because the traditional bitcoin exchanges were limiting how much bitcoin he could purchase,” the Justice Department added.

When the victims agreed to the sale, Igbara “sent them documents that included images of purported wire transfer confirmation pages that falsely confirmed Igbara had sent a wire transfer for the promised amounts,” the complaint details. The victims then transferred their bitcoin to Igbara but “the promised wire transfers never arrived.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney pointed out that “There was nothing philanthropic about the bitcoin transactions Igbara engaged in with his victims,” emphasizing that a quick online search “will reveal an entirely different image of this multimillion-dollar scammer.”

This investigation is still ongoing, and the authorities urge anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of this scheme to file a complaint with the FBI. If convicted, Igbara faces up to 20 years in prison.

What do you think about this bitcoin scam case? Let us know in the comments section below.

Big Tech’s Freedom of Speech Purge Pushes People to Censorship-Resistant Blockchain Social Media

09/01/2021 by Idelto Editor

During the last few days, the world has watched the Big Tech and social media crackdown after the incident that took place at Capitol Hill a few days ago. During the last 48 hours, U.S. President Donald Trump, a great number of right-wing supporters, and literally anyone who speaks out against the U.S. government has been censored. The extreme Big Tech censorship has driven a great number of social media participants to search for censorship-resistant alternatives.

Big Tech’s Purge

In 2020 and into 2021, mainstream media alongside the help of Twitter, Google, Apple, Youtube, Amazon, and Facebook has managed to whitewash the corruption and scandalous acts caused by the U.S. bureaucracy. Following the large protest in Washington and the protestors who managed to enter the Capitol building; videos, pictures, and viral social media posts littered the internet capturing the day’s events. Then after it was all said and done, in a matter of mere hours, Big Tech and the social media giants started to purge any dissent.

These tech companies ARE becoming the state.

Privacy violations, blatant bans and an extraordinary willingness to appease increasingly authoritarian governments.

— russ (@RussellOkung) January 9, 2021

On January 7, Facebook announced the deletion of President Trump’s page and also said that it would be deleting all the commentary that shows “praise and support of the storming of the U.S. Capitol.” Facebook said they would also be deleting posts that call for peaceful protests, alongside pictures and videos of the Capitol breach.

History and future Americans will not judge kindly those who in times of crisis chose to censor and silence their fellow Americans.

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) January 9, 2021

Facebook has further implemented a new feature asking the user if they are sure they want to post. The company has started to purge any dissent toward the American bureaucracy and plan to “update labels on posts” and add more fact-checkers. Facebook said the firm will leverage “AI to demote content that likely violates our policies.”

85,000 followers purged in a day and a half.

I guess the Twitter folks missed all the liberal blather about “unity.”

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 9, 2021

Additionally, Twitter decided to follow Facebook’s censorship path as well, and also banned the @realdonaldtrump account with 87 million followers. Twitter called the President’s account a “risk” that could further incite violence and called the Capitol building breach “horrific.” The company highlighted two tweets written by Trump and said that they glorified violence. Following the deletion of Trump’s account, Twitter also slashed the followers of many activists who have shown any signs of a dissenting viewpoint.

On January 9th 2021 Silicon Valley took over. Welcome to a new world.

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) January 9, 2021

Further, left-wing supporters have applauded the censorship and a great majority of the bureaucrats have joined the purge as well. Some of them have even called on Apple and Google for the deletion of censorship-resistant social media apps like Parler. Many progressives have fully supported the censorship of dissenting views, and are calling for even more censoring.

Decentralized Networks and Blockchain-Based Social Media Alternatives

The intense censorship storm has invoked a great number of people to leave Twitter and Facebook and search for alternatives. Of course, there are decentralized alternatives that don’t use blockchain tech like Diaspora, Mastodon, Parler, Flote, Sola, and Manyverse, but there are many social media apps that do use blockchain tech.

A blockchain-based social media application operates just like the popular social media giants we all use today, but they also allow people to post content in a censorship-resistant and immutable fashion.

Big Tech's Freedom of Speech Purge Pushes People to Censorship-Resistant Blockchain Social Media — One particular decentralized application called memo.cash skips all the censorship nonsense, as it allows users to post content to the BCH chain. In November 2020, memo.cash launched its iOS application for the App Store.

Right now there are a few blockchain-based alternative social media sites that allow people to speak and share content in an immutable fashion. Some of these applications have been operating for a few years now, and some of them are just starting to kickstart the social network. These platforms are also built on various blockchains like Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, IOTA, EOS, and more.

A few of the apps also leverage both blockchain technology and the Inter-Planetary File System (ipfs.io) in a combination. Blockchain apps that people can sign up for and test today include platforms like Voice, Memo.cash, Peepeth, Member.cash, Socialx, Sapien, Lbry, Dtube, All.me, Minds, Society2, Peakd, Hive, and Indorse.

For instance, the app Peepeth is a decentralized “microblogging” platform that emulates Twitter in some ways. The platform is built using the Ethereum blockchain and IPFS. Another application called Memo.cash is a decentralized social network powered by the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Essentially, all Memo posts are visible to anyone using the BCH blockchain, with each Memo account being associated with a BCH wallet address. Member.cash is another decentralized public platform for discussion and reputation built using the BCH chain. The Member.cash model is similar to Reddit, but leverages the BCH network for censorship resistance and decentralization.

The application called Minds leverages the Ethereum (ETH) network and claims to be accessible to all, and says it is censorship-resistant as well. People looking for Youtube alternatives can try Dtube or Lbry. For instance, Lbry’s creators say the app is a decentralized content sharing and publishing platform that is wholly owned by its users. There are many types of social media applications that leverage blockchain, decentralization techniques like IPFS, and have created places where anyone can speak their minds.

As usual, the biggest downfall of all these applications is the lack of users, as most people have not gravitated toward decentralized social media. However, during the last few years as nation-states have ramped up censorship, and heightened the crackdown against anti-government rhetoric, these platforms have seen significant growth.

The best thing people can do right now is to start migrating toward social media applications that offer decentralization and blockchain censorship-resistance, because the dystopian world that looks an awful lot like Fahrenheit 451 or 1984 is surely upon us.

What do you think about the myriad of censorship-resistant and blockchain-based social media applications? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Grammy Nominated Hip-Hop Star Logic Dropped $6 Million Into Bitcoin Last Month

20/11/2020 by Idelto Editor

During the last few months, a slew of celebrity luminaries, millionaires, and even a number of billionaires have announced taking the plunge into the crypto asset economy. On Thursday evening, the former rapper Robert Bryson Hall II, known professionally as “Logic,” revealed he purchased $6 million worth of bitcoin last month.

The retired American rapper Logic has made a name for himself during the last ten years when he started his songwriting and record producing career in 2010. During the last decade, Logic released six studio albums and was nominated for two Grammy awards. In 2017, Logic achieved mass popularity when his album dubbed “Everybody” hit the number one position on the U.S. charts in 2017.

These days, Logic is retired from the rap scene and he announced leaving in July 2020 after he released his final record “No Pressure.” Logic is also into cryptocurrency as the hip-hop artist disclosed on Instagram that he purchased $6 million worth of bitcoin in October. Last month, a single BTC was swapping above the $13k handle and this week bitcoin has been trading above the $18k zone.

“My $6 million in bitcoin last month. F*** it. YOLO. Seriously,” Logic posted to Instagram.

The Instagram post also asked if the bitcoin purchase was a win or a lose. A great number of Instagram users responded to Logic’s bitcoin post with both win or lose responses and during the last 15 hours, the post has been viewed 91,765 times. Additionally, on Twitter the former rapper changed his account name to “Bobby Bitcoin” and he’s been talking about the crypto asset on that platform as well.

“Alright f*** Twitter I’m going to play chess and count my bitcoin,” Logic tweeted on Wednesday.

One person responded to the lyricist’s tweet and said “What do you mean count it? All you gotta do is check your balance.” Besides bitcoin, Logic’s Twitter feed is also filled with posts about playing chess and opening decks of Pokemon cards. Last October, Logic reportedly purchased a rare first edition Charizard Pokemon card worth $226,000, which was also a “YOLO” purchase.

Logic’s bitcoin purchase announcement follows the hit record producer “Murda Beatz” telling his fans that he purchased bitcoin last October. Murda Beatz and Logic also follow a slew of hip hop recording artists that have jumped into the cryptocurrency economy during the last decade. Other music stars that have revealed an interest in cryptocurrencies and bitcoin over the years include celebrities like Jermane Prime, Nas, RZA, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Young Thug, Swae Lee, and Talib Kweli.

What do you think about the former American rapper Logic buying $6 million worth of bitcoin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The post Grammy Nominated Hip-Hop Star Logic Dropped $6 Million Into Bitcoin Last Month appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Bitcoin Cash-Fueled Onchain Social Media Platform Memo Launches iOS App

06/11/2020 by Idelto Editor

Two years ago, an onchain social network called memo.cash was launched and the application has developed quite a bit since then. On Tuesday, the Memo team revealed that the platform is now available for iOS phones via the App Store. Apple users can now connect to the social network that etches a user’s content to the Bitcoin Cash blockchain.

During the last few years, especially with deplatforming on the rise, uncensorable forums, immutable streaming video apps, and onchain social media projects have been developed. Worldwide governments in collaboration with Big Tech have managed to censor dissenting opinions against the status quo on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and more.

One particular decentralized application called memo.cash skips all that nonsense, as it allows users to post content to the BCH chain. Because nearly every action works by writing transactions to the BCH blockchain, the data stored allows for censorship-resistant social media in comparison to the platforms run by Big Tech giants.

On November 3, 2020, the Memo team announced that the application is now available via Apple’s App Store. This means anyone with an iPhone can download the onchain social media application that tethers content to a decentralized cryptocurrency network.

Memo works just like it does in a browser and users can simply register a new account or login with their existing credentials. In addition to leveraging the BCH chain, the memo.cash application also works with the cryptocurrency bitcoinsv (BSV).

Newcomers should understand that memo.cash needs a small fraction of bitcoin cash (BCH) in order to execute things like posting content or updating profiles. Users can leverage less than a nickel of BCH on memo.cash, by depositing the satoshis to the profile’s wallet address or even a small fraction of satoshis from a faucet.

Memo is similar to Twitter as it only allows for 217 characters in a given post. But just like Twitter, users can post not only threads but also videos, pictures, and URL links. Memo users can also start a poll with a variety of options. Unlike Twitter, which is well known in 2020 for blatant censorship, Memo app’s onchain content is immutable.

In addition to the posting abilities, users can also access a native wallet within the Memo app that allows users to send BCH and SLP tokens as well.

The main feed has a few different filters that allow Memo users to choose “hot” and “new” topics, alongside the ability to refresh the page in the top right corner of the screen. While memo.cash app newcomers will have to navigate and explore the onchain social media application, veteran Memo users will get the gist of the app much quicker.

Of course on Reddit, the new iOS mobile version of memo.cash was welcomed by the r/btc community. “Congrats Memo team,” one BCH proponent wrote on Tuesday, congratulating the developers.

What do you think about the Memo social media app being added to Apple’s App Store? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

The post Bitcoin Cash-Fueled Onchain Social Media Platform Memo Launches iOS App appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Ripple Sues Youtube For Allowing Scams That Promised Returns Up to $1 Million

22/04/2020 by Idelto Editor

Ripple is suing Youtube, accusing the video platform of not doing enough to eliminate crypto-related “giveaway” scams. The payment network wants to force Youtube to protect its users from such scams. Some scammers promise returns up to 5 million XRP or about $930,000 at current prices, but participants in the “giveaway” never received the money, according to court papers.

With one eye on Twitter and Facebook, Ripple ultimately “intends to prompt industry-wide behavior change with the lawsuit.” Youtube is used by over 2 billion people each month, and every day people watch more than one billion hours of video.

Users are being sent a huge variety of videos or social media posts, which impersonate companies or individuals, such as Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, luring them to send money so that they can receive more funds in return, typically through an airdrop.

Garlinghouse, himself a subject of impersonation on Instagram, railed against Youtube’s alleged “inertia”. In a thread on Twitter, he claimed:

(This is) indicative of an industry-wide problem of a lack of accountability. Victims are forced to jump through hoops to report these scams, and oftentimes that doesn’t even work.

He accused big social media companies of “dragging their feet” by failing “to police their platforms” from preventable fraudulent schemes. “In times like these, when consumers already feel vulnerable, it’s more important than ever to protect people from these rampant scams,” Garlinghouse tweeted.

In the lawsuit, Ripple called on Youtube to correct a number of specific issues. “First, to be more aggressive and proactive in identifying these scams, before they’re posted. Second, faster removal of these scams once they are identified and lastly, to not profit from these scams,” said the company in a statement released April 21.

On its part, Ripple says it has published a how-to-guide to help users identify such scams and protect themselves. It has also beefed up security on its platform, including the hire of outside cybersecurity experts “to help with reporting and takedown efforts”. The company is working with XRP forensics to fish out suspicious transactions on the cryptocurrency’s ledger while monitoring for scam social posts in real-time.

Ripple, however, notes that these efforts are not enough, without the efforts of platforms like Youtube to protect users. It said:

For every scam, giveaway, fake conspiracy that is taken down, multiple more pop up nearly immediately. The reality is that big technology and media companies need to take responsibility and be held accountable for protecting consumers.

The service is worried that industry complacency towards misinformation will work against the innovation and progress of blockchain and cryptocurrency.

A Youtube spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying the platform acts “quickly when we detect violations of our policies, such as scams or impersonation.”

A week ago, Google revealed that scammers are sending 18 million hoax emails about Covid-19 to Gmail users. The tech giant said it was blocking in excess of 100 million phishing emails each day. About 20% of those blocked during the week to April 17 were scam emails related to coronavirus.

What do you think about cryptocurrency scams on social media? Let us know in the comments section below.

The post Ripple Sues Youtube For Allowing Scams That Promised Returns Up to $1 Million appeared first on Bitcoin News.