iEarn Bot – One of the Largest Scams to Date Unravels

• Thousands left with huge losses after investing in iEarn Bot scam.
• Platform had a global client base and used high-profile names to gain trust.
• Millions syphoned off in what could be one of the largest scams ever seen.

Experts investigating crypto ‘investment’ platform iEarn Bot say that it could be one of the biggest scam operations of all time. Thousands have already come forward to detail how they lost savings in the fraudulent scheme, but the global reach of the app means that the scale of the losses could be huge.

Celebrity sponsors

As is often the case with Ponzi schemes, the iEarn Bot initially worked well. The client base grew as investors received handsome payouts allegedly based on the platform’s ‘artificial intelligence’ which enabled it to always beat the market.

The scheme was at least user-friendly and was based on a mobile phone app so it could be easily downloaded. An extensive referral program managed to draw in new users, whose funds were allocated to existing ones as ‘profits’. High profile names were drawn into the scheme to give it more kudos. Academics, IT experts, and local community leaders were being name-checked in countries ranging from the US to Nigeria, Cambodia and Colombia, and Romania.

iEarn Bot – Investor funds just disappear

There has been a significant change in mood among those who have joined or promoted the scheme. The iEarn Bot platform was recently taken down for ‘maintenance’. Once it reappeared, some investors found their account to be showing zero balances.

Those who do have balances in their accounts are being quoted a 30% withdrawal fee – something which looks more like a trap than a solution.

The scale of the operation is only beginning to be understood; the platform claims to have 800,000 account holders in Indonesia alone. Research carried out by investigators has identified payments totalling $1.3bn to an untraceable crypto wallet, potentially relating to the funds of 13,000 investors.

Lessons to take from iEarn Bot Fraud

When considering investment, the first step anyone should take is to carry out due diligence on the agent which will hold their funds. The scale of the iEarn Bot scam comes down to the company managing to distract investors from some of its ‘red flags’.

The namechecking extended past celebrities and included prestigious US colleges such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and reputable firms such as Huawei and Qualcomm.  When contacted by investigators, all of these organisations said that they had no knowledge of iEarn Bot. A lack of any contact details on the iEarn Bot site was another give-away.

As crypto markets aren’t regulated, investors are not as well protected as when buying stocks or bonds. Unfortunately, that leaves little hope for those caught out by the iEarn Bot scam.

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Crowdsourcing information about scam brokers can help others avoid falling into the traps set by disreputable brokers and you can share your experiences here. If you would like to know more about this particular topic, or have been scammed by a fraudulent broker, you can also contact us at [email protected]

About the author: Justin Freeman

Justin is an active trader with more than 20-years’ industry experience of working for big banks and hedge funds. He has an inside knowledge of how the financial markets work, thanks to roles including trader on a $750m Event-Arbitrage desk and CRO and COO of hedge funds running a variety of strategies. From stat-arb and trend-following CTA to fixed-income relative value. Firm’s he has worked at include big banks like Citi, and prominent hedge funds including D. E. Shaw and Millennium Capital Management.

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