Bitcoin Forum

https://www.ccn.com/philippines-deports-mastermind-of-33-million-bitcoin-pyramid-scheme/

These pyramid schemes are the ones giving bitcoin a bad name taking advantage of those people who have less knowledge about the technology. That's why it's really important that we do our own research to something that we wanted to invest our money in to avoid being scammed by these scumbags.

Philippines is a crypto freindly country and lots of people are benefiting from it and since there are so many pyramid schemes happening in this country I just hope that this wouldn't create an impression to those who wanted to learn or invest in this awesome technology.

Do you think this is a ground for banning bitcoin in the Philippines? Will bitcoin regulation save those potential investors not to be scammed? Share me your thoughts!

There's no connection to the arrest to ban bitcoin in the Philippines.

That's just a usual act of the scammers when they are wanted to their homeland, they'll fly to a friendlier country to flee from their local authorities. Look at the brighter side that he caught by PH's authority, this isn't only about being a crypto friendly country but being a very well cooperative country with regards to criminal awareness.

He was probably using those illegally gained bitcoins to live a high life in the Philippines where bitcoins are perfectly legal. Shame he didn't get sentenced to stay in a local prison, i'm sure it would be a lot less pleasant than the ones in South Korea.

It could be. As majority of the population in the Philippines doesnt have any slight idea on what cryptocurrency is. Those people who were scammed are the evidence that shows how people had less knowledge in this field. The philippines government might take legal steps to eliminate the possibility for that incident to happen again. Regulation might be the first option.

Warning again? This is what I've usually noticed. In the foreign countries, our fellow Filipino will be sentenced to death after committing a crime whether intentional or just a self defense but when a foreigner committed a crime here they'll be just deported despite of the big damage they bring to us like this $33M scam. For me it is so disappointing, I don't know why it works like that? I think we should also let those bad people taste our own justice and not only leave it on others' authority.

Well, I admit that my knowledge is only limited when it comes to law and justice so maybe I'm wrong and just overreacting. I just hope our law doesn't only have long arms, it should be made of blazing iron too.

Sad to say that some people really took advantage of the bullish situation last year where bitcoin is like a gold mine. They took that as an opportunity to scam and made a lot of promises. As some people got carried away with good profit at first. But, things started to go wrong when bitcoin falls sharply. Reality checks hit them. So, don't invest in something that you do not know.

i disagree for multiple reasons.
first is the fact that bitcoin doesn't really get a bad name when someone rips off idiots because bitcoin is just the tool they used and they might have as well used anything else.
besides pyramid schemes are not really that big nor that common. they rarely happen, specially on big scale and they happen in countries like this one here. so it is again not a big deal.
not to mention that $33 million is the biggest thing you can find and in comparison to other scams it is not even that big! we already have others such as ICOs that are scamming people hundreds of times bigger than $33 million per day and if anything they are giving bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general a bad name.

LMAO, you should know that there are different kinds of law on every respective country and not all laws created in different countries are the same law on your country. And one more thing the topic isn't about the Filipino's sentenced to death with the crimes that they made, it's about the fraudulent acts of Korean national who hides in the Philippines and now gets arrested because of the pyramiding scam that he created. This is not the proper forum to post butthurt messages on what you are talking about. :)

The banning of Bitcoin and crypto currencies are not going to stop Pyramid Schemes and this is a well known fact. These Pyramid Schemes operated years before Bitcoin was even invented. Yes, the government might use that as an excuse to ban Bitcoin, if they were looking for a stick to hit it with.

In any way Pyramid Schemes are legal in some countries and some people benefit from these schemes globally. The problem with these schemes is the people who gets burnt. <They blame Bitcoin and not their own stupidity or the Pyramid Schems they participated it>

You are right, but most dont believe theses scams that much and know how bitcoin works. But for newbies it really pushes them away.

Cut the BS, if you know you're overreacting then stop posting crap like that.

In Europe for example, there is only one country left with the death penalty and unlike in the Philippines, you can actually hope for a fair trial. Nobody is hunting innocent Filipinos and sentencing them to death without being guilty anywhere.

Rather than that you should take a moment and wonder why is the crime rate against tourists in the Philippines 6 times bigger than the average homicide rate in Italy and stop acting like the whole world is treating you unfairly.

Furthermore, and probably the most important thing, you should learn to READ first and then WRITE.
From the article:


So, what money did this guy scammed your poor and innocent citizens?

And for god's sake, he's not even a Filipino!!!!

Honestly, there's no correlation between the fugitive that hides in PH and PH for being crypto friendly. The article was about the korean fraudster that scammed people with over $33M and even a little bit it won't affect the position of PH government towards cryptos.

So what's with the fuzz?

Aside from the fact that SEC had warned the people to be vigilant from this kind of investment, so in return as an individual we should take precautionary measure.


Well I think the death penalty is depend on the crime that's being committed and varies with the country. And so far even our fellow filipinos that scammed other nationalities were just been deported and let government give the rightful punishment likewise vise versa.

Most of the ponzi schemes are pyramid based. Strict action should be taken by the goverment to stop these pyramid schemes.

People should be educated that these schemes are not, Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. Such scams are giving Bad name to Bitcoin. The same thing is happening in my country too and the goverment has started taking strict action against those scammers.

I don’t think it will get banned. But it could form a lot of distrust, which is bad for crypto in general. I think more than ever, now’s the time for government to discuss regulation, right? We need policies to protect our money, don’t you think?

Pyramid business has been very attached to the term online business. Almost all online businesses are entered by this pyramid system. Because basically the pyramid business will only bring negative effects to anyone who follows it. I think the Philippines is a big country, so it's only natural that they do that because they see Bitcoin as an online business like everyone else.

As much as crime exists in the crypto community, I feel like most people understand that traditional financial institutions have certainly played their role, as well.

Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme in history and crypto had nothing to do with it.

Wells Fargo perpetuated widespread fraud because employees were frantically trying to meet quotas, and opened up millions of fake accounts.

HSBC gave a blind eye to Mexican drug cartels, some of the most ruthless criminal organizations in the world, and all they did was pay a fine.

Ultimately, this is unfortunate, but I don't think incidents like this are some "big stain" on crypto.

Where there is profit, there is greed.  Where there is greed, there is crime.

Just my take on it.

I don't understand why people fall for Pyramid Schemes after all! anyone can see the real face of a pyramid scheme in 10 minutes on google and youtube!

This kind of scam has made a negative impact in cryptocurrency, especially for those people who have no idea about crypto. However, for the Filipino Citizens who have been in this industry for a long time, they were affected by this. because they know that there's no pyramiding or networking in the Crypto World. and I believe that the Philippine Government will not ban Bitcoin because of this crime.

While regulations can prevent potential investors from loosing their money, it is anti decentralization. It is high time people saw pyramid schemes as scam and desist from investing into it. I hope the government of the Philippines will make sure that these masterminds are punished.

Lol pyramiding schemes are creation of scammers and victims of this mostly greed people of noob so why the country’s will suffer by the stupidity of their people?Lol this will never lead to banning cryptocurrency specially bitcoin from this country.theres no one must blame here is the victim for not making research before betting their precious money

People fall for Pyramid Schemes because they are greedy or unaware that it's a scam.

Even if they do ban Bitcoin in the Philippines these scammers can use fiat to continue their operations. Bitcoin regulation won't save everyone from getting scammed because exchanges are mostly the ones that get monitored.

When there's a bad news coming from Philppines about Bitcoin it's always asked if it'll get banned last time there's this (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3306074.0). It's getting annoying since the answer is obvious unless they give some hints of banning Bitcoin.

Lack of knowledge and ignorance. There some people who just really love to take risks even if they already knew exactly that its just a scam.

Investors will likely evolved as well and be smart specially investing in crypto. Sooner or later there will be less gullible person and I do hope that those who have been scammed before will not commit the same mistakes again.


I don't think so. On the contrary, it might attracted more investors.


It can probably save some investors. But scammers will be scammers, they will try to look at ways to steal and victimized unsuspecting people whether crypto or fiat.

Definitely, people using trending site like bitcoin for pyramiding scam just to earn millions and don't think the consequences afterward. I don't think this will be the ground for banning bitcoin in the Philippines because it did not do anything just to ruins peoples lives. It is your choices....

I don't think the Philippine Government will consider or impose a ban on Bitcoin. Tighter regulation maybe implemented. Just look at Coins.ph now one of the local exchange sites in the Philippines how strict they are in new registrations and and asking for identifications to be able to cash out. If they sensed that there's unusual movement of funds in your account you'll be asked for more IDs.

Regulations can't protect investors from being scammed, investors need to protect themselves by educating themselves on how to spot a scam. if its too good to be true then more likely its a scam.

Most Pyramid schemes are ussual scam, the idea of Crypto currency is to free us from intervention of anyone fROM our funds. Engaging in a networking losses the whole idea of Crypto. Choose not to trust anyone to have control over your money, better to store it to an open source wallet which offers you full control over your fund. Its better to hold your coin in a wallet and just wait for the price to pump. If you consider to hold multiple coins, better take a look and verify the security of a wallet like HODLER wallet. Surely, you will never experience to get scam since your money is all within your hand.

There will always be scammers everywhere. Unfortunately, Bitcoin has also become a tool for these people to take advantage of others. Problem is, when people get scammed they tend to blame it on the tool. But we have to understand that it is not the tool that is the problem but the people using that tool! This is a sad reality.

Point to ponder, no one will be scammed if he/she will not allow him/herself to be scammed! Which is why vigilance is of highest importance when it comes to these things. We cannot do anything about these scammers. But, we can everything to keep ourselves from becoming a victim.

It hurts when I saw a news came from Philippines that is scam. I am a Filipino citizen and I am aware of this. And I think, it just destroy the good identity of Philippines in crypto industry. However, it is good that the authorities have their support in order to arrest this scam ppl that involve in this activity. Hopefully, those people who scammed will learn a lot so that, they will not just join in scam and pyramiding investment.

Did you read the news? It was a Korean national and not a Filipino who is involved in the scam. So it has no effect whatsoever for the Philippines. The country is already making a good moved by embracing bitcoin because I read that more exchanges will be opening in the Philippines and they have this kind of special zone dedicated for crypto activity.

As for scammers, everyone should be aware that they're going to multiple because of the gaining popularity of bitcoin so we should do our own research and due diligence. Scammers are evolving in shape and form so just be careful not to be swayed by this criminals.

I just watched another news again yesterday it's about some  Chinese organized group has been caught by the bureau and with the help of chinese Interpol, who are manipulating the price of stocks, especially on cryptocurrency. Also, another has been caught on running Illegal online gambling scamming and frauding people who are based in the Philippines. I think some criminal groups like to base their illegal activities here because of the light securities and also they will not be easily identified by the police.

Scammers are all around, now that they've seen crypto as a good potential venue to take advantage from those people who's new to it, but in either way even government impose ban or much tighter rules scammers will be able to find ways, we should not condemned the system as supporters we should protect this chain and bring enlightenment or much deeper knowledge helping new people to have a better look before entering this investment platform.

Banning Bitcoin will change nothing. The most important thing is to educate people about the dangers of investing in something that they do not understand.
The basic legal regulations will also help in prosecuting such scammers.
It is good that this scammer was caught!

perhaps among those who learned about the cryptocurrency through such sites, were able to study it further, realizing their mistakes

If the Philippine Government doesn't know what Bitcoin is, they could ban Bitcoin but since it is a crypto friendly. But I believe that they are already know that Bitcoin has nothing to do with the scam activities because like fiat currency it can be use in legal and illegal activities.

Pyramid schemes are rampant in the Philippines. I think this all boils down to education. Some people are just too trusting or act on impulse without thoroughly studying a potential investment. Scams will only happen if we allow it. People must do their homework, due diligence as they'd say, and be vigilant. 

If bitcoin is used for investment in pyramid schemes, it will make bitcoin a negative view. Although pyramid schemes exist before bitcoin, I think they only use bitcoin in this way and lead to fraud. The state should have made a regulation regarding the ban on the Ponzi scheme system because, in the end, the last investor will experience a huge loss

Philippines adopt US culture. they don't mind using pyramid scheme to scam even family members money as long themselves are rich. from government bond to crypto. everything can be use as scheme, Filipino are not all well educated. easily manipulated by others. another is Chinese minority there. Many Chinese from China went there to join pyramid scheme due to China banned and it is punishable by death. so most of them went to SEA country to create pyramid scheme. Philippines is one of the popular spot.

Scams has already been there ever since bitcoin was created and some scammers had been sentence with punishment they deserve. Good thing that this scammer was caught in our country which is Philippines. $33M is a very huge amount of money, take note that he got this by scamming people and promising them to gain profit by investing in bitcoin is very alarming most especially that some people do not know anything about it. This is the reason why we should always do our own research about things especially if it assures us a fast  and guaranteed profit.

i dont think so, i see no probable cause at all, just like any technology or a booming industry theres always a good guys and a bad guys around, you just have to do yoir due diligence to not to be a victim, just like any othet currency or fiat money theres always scammers will scam you.

How stupid is this question mate?where did you get the idea of this arrest to be a ground of banning bitcoin in thay region?

This is a fault of individual or maybe with hes team but this not mean the whole country will suffer just because of them.and i believe that philippine government is a crypto friendly country and no hard regulations about this community.so stop fooling around mate and be mature about this cryptocurrency