Bitcoin Forum

News about bitcoin-related crime is increasing, FBI fugitive Russ Medlin accused of bitcoin fraud with a ponzi scheme. Who managed
to cheat for $ 722 million was finally caught in Indonesia for having sex with underage girls. Hopefully the crimes committed by Russ Medlin
do not have a bad influence on the world of cryptocurrency. I'm happy he finally get caught, hopefully give a heavy punishment.

What do you think, it turns out there are still many people who were deceived ponzi by Russ Medlin. This proves investors do not do
investigation before investment. Is it because of greed that makes people exposed to fraud, I want to know the opinion members on
this forum.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3089307/us-bitcoin-fugitive-russ-medlin-arrested-sex-charges

Nice to see him get some comeuppance  :)
Ponzi scheme was BitClub - full thread here to get all the details
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1152263.0

This stunt was pulled many years ago, when crypto was just about to burst. So there are a lot of people really fall for this trick and blindly trust Medlin. I do hope he can be extradited and tried and found guilty and 'enjoy' his jail time.

This kind of people should be rot in jail, and we don't know how many money he still has, I do hope that he still has, freeze his assets and then refund his victims.

I just hope that the authorities will do their jobs accordingly and 'skin' this guy for every buck that he still has. This kind of people should not just spend a lot of time in jail, but they should be exposed to a harsh rehab program. Most of the people that spend jail time do not change when they come out. In fact, it is quite the opposite because of the freedom offered to inmates. There is no reason to keep people in jail if their behaviour doesn't change.

If there is any bitcoin left - I hope it will be available for reclaiming by "investors".

Hey, we cannot deny that Bitcoin and other Crypto currencies are used for illegal activities like Ponzi Schemes. One of the biggest Ponzi schemes called MMM is still running somewhere in some countries and the people are using Bitcoin as a payment option. This does not mean that Bitcoin is bad, because it is used for this.. it only means that it is a currency and it can be used for everything... including crime.

I am glad the guy was caught and he will be seeing the inside of a jail cell for many years.... even if it was for another crime. We cannot stop criminals from using any currency, but we can use Bitcoin for legal projects and that should be the focus. ;)

Right, Bitcoin can be traced for a reason. Doing crime with Bitcoin is just dumb

Its a pretty serious crime and I think these kinds of people should see a jail cell for a very long time probably for life. This guy has proven to the police service that he has scammed people of their money and committed even worse crimes. He has multiple crimes to his name and should probably see life as they are some pretty bad crimes mixed in there. Jail is rehab and anything else is taking it a little too easy on people committing the crimes and is a kick in the balls for any of the victims looking for justice.

No, it won't. The article you provide clearly stated that this guy Medlin deceived his victims into believing of such profitable Bitcoin mining ponzi scheme. I don't find anything that would affect the image of cryptocurrency.
Anyway, this guy really loves committing crime. I don't know how does he sleep at night knowing that he's been always hiding from authorities, committing a number of serious crimes.

You wouldnt know because everytime theres a negative news towards bitcoin then it do really have that significant impact yet this will generate out bad impressions towards it
specially if the media would really tend out to give emphasis on how bitcoin is being used into these kind of frauds.This isnt something new though because we have seen countless
involvements of scams which is really sad to think of but somehow, only to those true believers will really see the beauty or benefits or it.
Towards that Medlin, he cant hide forever and its just right for him to be penalized on what he had committed.

I beg to disagree! We cannot deny the fact that in one way or the other, it had already tainted the public perception of cryptocurrencies in general and that is why we cannot blame people for being reluctant to join the crypto bandwagon!

I believe that up to this day, there are still many scams in progress that are related to crypto and that we as crypto enthusiasts should unite in fighting these types of  scams from bad actors if we aspire crypto mass adoption. Imho.

Every bad publicity really reflects on bitcoin, tainted it's name and people start to look at it negatively. However, we can also look at the bright side, just like in this pandemic, there are a lot of donations to help people thru bitcoin and other crypto. As for the bad actor here, this is a serious offence and should be dealt harshly as well.

Heard of bitclub but didnt know it was a ponzi scheme.
But eventually they all turn out to be sooner or later I sposse.
They bounce once they feel they have made enough money so not to pay out the last of the investors.
Thats how those ponzi schemes all end up at the very end.

This may have a negative effect on mass adoption and people investing in Cryptocurrency. But on the bright side this shows that Bitcoin can be regulated and cannot be cheated by tax evaders and scammers. Governments can use Crypto as global currency for businesses big or small.

I hope people will not see the bitcoin as an illegal activity, but they will see that man and what he did. Bitcoin as a payment system is not related to him or his scam programs, but he gives one bad name for bitcoin. He only used bitcoin to deposit and withdraw the profit. I think in out there, some illegal activity also uses bitcoin for transferring the money, but the local authorities can't find them yet.

Perhaps, people now become smart and will think that bitcoin is stand-alone without any programs related, and bitcoin is an alternative for making a transaction.

Just the way people commit crime using fiat currencies, same way individual does with bitcoin and that does not change the way or perspective people see fiat. One thing I have discovered about this individual is that they are people that are used to making high yield investment program and many of them have turn to creating crypto ponzi scheme in order to defraud people because they know there are many people investing in cryptocurrency. Thanks Crypto is not like Liberty reserve that can easily be ban by the FBI.

It won't. This is an isolated case of child abuse by a man who also happened to be a cryptoscam ringleader. When people look at a person like that they don't think about their occupation or livelihood they contemplate the crimes he was charged for. The crime in question must be directly related to the occupation, like someone who makes money from affiliate marketing on eBay pulling off affiliate fraud on it, in order for it to cast some negative light on the industry.

Indeed but I am sure they(scammers) will be the ones to stop using Bitcoin in their scheme if they found out that Bitcoin transaction is not anonymous and they can be traced if they attach their real identity on the Bitcoin address they used.

The news about Bitcoin being used in illegal activities had been heard so many times that its effectiveness to keep people away had diminished, and proven that just like fiat currency, bitcoin is just a mode of payment that can be used either way. And the news about the arrest of a scammer always brings music to our ears.  I am glad that guy had been apprehended and hope he rots in jail.

He wasn't caught because of the scam but because he paid kids to have sex with and then later after he was identified involved in ponzi scheme that mounts to $722M. Unfortunately the amount of money he has didn't make him smart still. Now has to face the consequences, jail time wouldn't be enough for having sex with minors.

Its still unsure if the investors can still claim their coins back, I doubt there will be transparency to the investigation.  Some Indonesian officers are also corrupt so its not surprising to know if they are interested to the coins.

Glad to hear the news when the United States Bitcoin Fugitive was arrested and the location of the arrest occurred in my country Indonesia. Proud of the Indonesian police, Capable of arresting a sex predator and exposing other crimes, namely the perpetrators of the Bitcoin fraud with the PONZI scheme.

The amount of fraud reached $722 million is a very large amount, why are so many people who can be deceived? of course because the strategy and mode that Russ Medlin uses is able to make investors believe, most investors who are deceived are usually investors who are new to bitcoin and don't do research first.

May Russ Medlin get the punishment he deserves.

People!?! How does someone committing a crime have anything to do with us cryptocurrency community?

I don’t know why you people like to associate these people with the cryptocurrency community and make it seem like everyone here is committing the same crime and Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as a whole are being used for bad purposes. And moreover the people he scammed are still people that are part of the cryptocurrency community and believed in it. So, he committed a crime, as simple as that and he should be punished for the crimes he committed.

Let’s stop dragging bitcoin into every bad thing. If we care about bitcoin's future then there cannot be such people existing; but it seems people are making use of bitcoin just for momentary benefits by selling it and never bother about "using it" near future.