On April 24, United States District Judge Frederic Block pronounced Igbara guilty of orchestrating money laundering and wire fraud through his Instagram page and other social media profiles under the alias Jay Mazini. “Igbara was a crypto con man.
He not only created a fake online presence to purport that he was a wealthy crypto investor, but he also used his Instagram persona as proof of success when convincing his unsuspecting victims to invest in his schemes. He conned a New York Muslim community out of millions then simply spent it and gambled it away.”
Thomas M. Using the company and his social media influence, the crypto fraudster collected capital from unsuspecting victims by offering attractive rates and falsified bank transfers as supposed payments for digital assets.
In addition to Igbara’s 84-month prison sentence, Judge Frederic Block ordered that he forfeit $10 million for his crimes. According to crypto.news, tech giant Google is suing crypto scammers leveraging fake apps to steal funds from investors.
Despite the massive amounts lost to crypto criminals, TRM Labs noted a 9% decrease in illicit virtual currency transactions last year.
