A glamorous Russian influencer known as the "Queen of Crypto" scammed unsuspecting investors out of over $22 million that she then sent to Ukrainian troops amid the ongoing war, according to reports.
Russian authorities say Valeria Fedyakina, 24, portrayed herself as a cryptocurrency expert on social media to gain the trust of at least four victims who she later stole millions from, NewsX reported.
The influencer, who went by "Bitmama" on social media, pretended to be a cryptocurrency expert with offices in Moscow City, Dubai, Monaco, Serbia and Turkey and convinced her victims to trust her with their millions, CryptoNews also reported.
Her victims reported losing massive sums of money, including one who said he lost $70 million.
After completing their investigation, police said Fedyakina managed to steal about $22 million in just two months.
Police say Fedyakina carried out the scam by convincing investors to transfer their money to Dubai crypto to avoid banking restrictions.
The victims said she then promised them a 1% bonus on the cash they sent her once it had been converted into crypto.
However, the cash quickly vanished as Fedyakina funneled it into Ukraine's armed forces to help in their fight against Russia's invasion.
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a scam? from the crypto sphere? what?
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Have fun in the penal colony, you idiot. 21 million went to buying corrupt politicians and generals more mansions and the remaining 1 million bought some rusty artillery shells at a 500% markup.
MFW I'm sowing
MFW I'm reaping
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!foidmoment
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Let's say I'm wrong. Let's say all 22 million went to funding the Ukrainian army. Do you think that matters... at all? Do you think the problem Ukraine has is it was short 22 million dollars? Would you throw your life away to "help" Ukraine which has a national debt of 100 billion dollars by giving them .00001% of that?
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Putin has one really easy way out of this war he started.
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No doubt from the perspective of Ukraine, this was a great deal. Some online thot 'influencer' they care nothing about goes to jail and they get 22 million dollars. Similar to cases where they offered to pay Russian citizens a few thousand dollars to light buildings on fire and such. These people get caught and go to jail for life, but Ukraine doesn't care and Ukrainian people don't care. They're not heroes to anyone. They're idiot patsies.
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Yeah, duh. Russian life is cheap. What's the bonus for joining the Russian army these days? Like $32k or something?
Instead of asking why this woman would risk her freedom over $22 million you should ask yourself why Russian men will throw their lives away for sub-McDonalds money.
It's fricking grim, and in most countries throwing a whole generation into a meat grinder would mean the end of the government that did it.
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You mistake my criticism of this girl for an endorsement of doing this for Russia or something. I would feel the same if a Ukrainian did a crypto scam to help Putin. The central part of what I'm saying is allowing yourself to becoming a patsy. If she had pulled this off and escaped to Ukraine then I'd have to admire her. Or if I thought she even did this out of principle and not clout chasing or to put a veneer of honor on defrauding people (wherein clearly she was living large off the profits too), then I could respect the self-sacrifice. But, again, it's just useful idiots getting squeezed and then left to rot.
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I give it 2 years till she gets released.
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lmao based queen
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keyed＋TZD＋bvilt for BBC
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Its one thing to trust a Russian, but a woman? They deserve to get scammed.
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Crypto neighbors lmto
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based
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I yield my Queen
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Snapshots:
https://nypost.com/2024/10/22/world-news/russian-queen-of-crypto-stole-22m-to-fund-ukrainian-army-reports/:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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Ruja Ignatova is the real crypto queen
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