FAKE news: "3 billion HKD lost" in Mycoin.hk bitcoin exchange runoff

[Darude Sandstorm]

I suspected it was some kind of FAKE news. Or at least misinformed one

If it were totally true  prices would be sub 150 by now

The amount is seemingly based on figures that the site gave out which were obviously bullshit. It would be interesting to see how much they actually took in though.

[cashtraderuk]

I'm not sure this story will turn out fake, but I'm pretty confident it has been over-exaggerated with the reported losses.

If the figures were true the bitcoin exchanges in China would have re-acted more violently which in itself is a sign that they are not taking the story seriously.

[finnile]

I'm not sure this story will turn out fake, but I'm pretty confident it has been over-exaggerated with the reported losses.

If the figures were true the bitcoin exchanges in China would have re-acted more violently which in itself is a sign that they are not taking the story seriously.

Its actually not fake news, but the story involves fiat, and is just simply related to bitcoin. The loss was incurred in fiat, and the company was relted to bitcoin.

[fonzie]

I'm not sure this story will turn out fake, but I'm pretty confident it has been over-exaggerated with the reported losses.

If the figures were true the bitcoin exchanges in China would have re-acted more violently which in itself is a sign that they are not taking the story seriously.

Its actually not fake news, but the story involves fiat, and is just simply related to bitcoin. The loss was incurred in fiat, and the company was relted to bitcoin.

This is the article on Finance.yahoo.com:

Leung Yiu-chung said his office recently received reports from dozens of investors in Hong Kong who paid a total of HK$40 million ($5.16 million) into the scheme run online by MyCoin, but the total loss may be vastly more.

"The number of cases is increasing. These two days I received calls about more than 30 cases. We estimate more than 3,000 people and HK$3 billion are involved," he told AFP.



https://finance.yahoo.com/news/alleged-bitcoin-scam-leaves-millions-missing-132209213.html

cough cough

[finnile]

cough cough

Where does it say, that the amount was in bitcoin that was stolen ?

[fonzie]

cough cough

Where does it say, that the amount was in bitcoin that was stolen ?

The quote shouldn´t refer to your reply. It was directed @cashtraderuk, and the dozens of other people who tried to deny the figure yesterday and today.

[dsly]

Thats a pretty large amount scam. How did they get away with this ?

[neurotypical]

I'm not sure this story will turn out fake, but I'm pretty confident it has been over-exaggerated with the reported losses.

If the figures were true the bitcoin exchanges in China would have re-acted more violently which in itself is a sign that they are not taking the story seriously.

Its actually not fake news, but the story involves fiat, and is just simply related to bitcoin. The loss was incurred in fiat, and the company was relted to bitcoin.

So what if it involves fiat?
is it fake or not?
If it wasn't a fake the price would have crashed a bit..

[pawel7777]

http://www.coindesk.com/hong-kong-exchange-mycoin-disappears-387m-reports-claim/

If true, the supposed losses are a staggering amount, although this estimate is based on the company's own earlier claims that it served 3,000 clients who had invested HK$1m ($129,000) each.

I wonder if mycoin claimed they had 30,000 clients, would all the news portals dumbly announce 'one of the biggest frauds in the history' or would they do their homework and present some reliable info.

[johnyj]

Even at today's exchange rate, they would need 1.5 million coins to get those number, definitely a scam.

I guess this is a planned money laundering scheme: Make money transfer to mycoin.hk account and claim the money is lost, get some tax return from government and later receive transfered money at an offshore bank account

[netmonk]

http://www.coindesk.com/mycoin-hong-kong-police-8-1-million/

$8millions loss estimated and not >$300millions

[JorgeStolfi]

http://www.coindesk.com/mycoin-hong-kong-police-8-1-million/

$8millions loss estimated and not >$300millions

Yeah, 43 victims so far, may not get to 100.

Mark claimed that MtGOX had more than a million users, but when the leaked database was analyzed, it was found that only 70'000 accounts were minimally active.  So his numbers were bloated by a factor of 15 at least.   If the same factor holds here, it would be 200 accounts.

By the way, here is a video that seems to be a 2014-03-12 congress of MyCoin.hk clients:
http://my.tv.sohu.com/us/201860874/69946081.shtml

The Westerner with grey hair presumably is William Dennis Atwood, the vanished CEO of MyCoin.kh's parent company.

EDIT: I counted 7x8 tables with 8-10 chairs each, so there were about 450 people in that event.

[VulgusMan]

http://www.coindesk.com/mycoin-hong-kong-police-8-1-million/

$8millions loss estimated and not >$300millions

i can confirm it...

i have read this news in other place too!

we will finally find that it was not stolen anything!!!

 

[JorgeStolfi]

This video has been posted to reddit as being another MyCoin.hk convention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGT3QL5VWPk

It says "MyBitCoin" in the opening shots and many places, but on T-Shirts (mostly in the second half) it says "MyCoin" only.  

There are a lot more than 30 (or 43) people there.  One of the overhead shots shows some large amounts, over 300 M (HKD, USD, CNY, or what?)

If it is MyCoin.hk, there may be a lot more than 43 victims.

If it is not MyCoin.hk, what venture is that?  The overhead texts are in Chinese...

[happycamper]

After watching the video, I was like... what the heck were they smoking?

There are a lot more than 30 (or 43) people there.

Probably most of the people were paid actors, common tactics used by ponzi schemers.

[JorgeStolfi]

A new Reuters video about MyCoin.hk:
http://www.reuters.com/video/2015/02/12/hong-kong-bitcoin-scandal-leaves-investo?videoId=363168348

The previous video (convention in Thailand) was MyCoin.hk allright, the same logo.

They say "about 400 million US dollars"

Why don't they mention the names of the scammers?

[JorgeStolfi]

Bitcoiners are trying to claim that "it has nothing to do with bitcoin".  But they are not innocent:

* Bitcoiners keep talking about price "going to the moon", "gains of 1000% per year" because of the "exponential trend" etc.  Because of these claims, when MyCoin promised 300% returns per year, people believed it.

* MyCoin has been operating for some time.  The real bitcoiners in HongKong must have known of its existence, and must have seen that it was a ponzi.  Why didn't they alert the police?  Because "anything bitcoin is good"?