By Bentley Kapoor (India)
According to the latest reports, a former employee of the alleged crypto Ponzi scheme in Ukraine Bitsonar, Yaroslav Shtadchenko has gone missing. It was noted by local news this week that Shtadchenko had been stuffed into the trunk of a vehicle on Wednesday, after what appeared to be a targeted job. Footage of the incident showed that Shtadchenko had attempted to fight off his kidnappers. He was shouting and passers-by attempted to come to his rescue, but the kidnappers were able to put him in the trunk successfully before driving off. Julia, Shtadchenko’s wife, also confirmed that her husband had been coming home from work when the kidnapping happened.
Later on, his belongings were found on the street by searchers. Like many others of its kind, Bitsonar also started off by advertising itself as a legitimate deal, but is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. The company claimed that they were generating profits by using trading robots for managing the investments. They hired a renowned local crypto adviser, Pavel Lerner, for serving as their official and for soliciting promotion from top YouTube video creators related to crypto. Doing so helped the company in adding credibility to its name, but it didn’t last for long.
Shtadchenko has been working for a while to bring down Bitsonar. He gave an interview to Forklog last month, which is a Russian news source, in which he outed the company. He spoke under the pseudonym Jan Novak and explained that Bitsonar was the brainchild of a former Ukrainian government clerk, Alexander Tovstenko. Shtadchenko claimed in the interview that as part of its Ponzi scheme, Bitsonar had been able to accumulate $2.5 million from investors globally. Due to his expose, the company was shut down on August 6th. 11 investors of Bitsonar also got in touch with CoinDesk and revealed that they were unable to withdraw any of their funds since February.
Also read:According to them, Bitsonar had claimed that withdrawals were paused due to an audit. But, withdrawals were never resumed and when CoinDesk analyzed Bitsonar’s wallets, they appeared to be empty. Julia Shtadchenko informed CoinDesk that her husband had called up Marius Ziubka, the chief executive at Bitsonar, and told him that he would report the fraudulent actions of the company. He was planning to file complaints with multiple law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). On Wednesday, Shtadchenko’s lawyer had also called him to recommend a peaceful resolution, but he wasn’t in agreement.
The same day, Shtadchenko was kidnapped while he was returning home from work. Even though the reason behind his kidnapping remains unclear, there is no doubt that his former employers would be prime suspects in any attempt to harm him. As compared to other Ponzi schemes, Bitsonar may not be as big, but the company still managed to earn a sizable amount of money. Its operations show that Ponzi schemes are still quite rampant within the crypto industry, as long as operators use the right advertising methods and have the right connections.
At Tokenhell, we help over 5,000 crypto companies amplify their content reach—and you can join them! For inquiries, reach out to us at info@tokenhell.com. Please remember, cryptocurrencies are highly volatile assets. Always conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions. Some content on this website, including posts under Crypto Cable, Sponsored Articles, and Press Releases, is provided by guest contributors or paid sponsors. The views expressed in these posts do not necessarily represent the opinions of Tokenhell. We are not responsible for the accuracy, quality, or reliability of any third-party content, advertisements, products, or banners featured on this site. For more details, please review our full terms and conditions / disclaimer.