I am quite sure that you all might have heard about the Mcafee antivirus. It is one of the most popular software out there meant to protect our PCs and laptops from harmful viruses. But who knew that the founder of the company itself would be charged for a cryptocurreny fraud. The individual was facing charges for “pump-and-dump” schemes. John Mcafee was promoting cryptocurrencies on Twitter, and once they rose, he sold them to make a hefty profit of others.
Charges faced by John Mcafee
The individual was charged with loads of crimes like conspiracy, fraud, money laundering. The US department of justice confirmed that he tricked investors into various schemes and would profit from their money. A US attorney said that the individual and his partner in crime Watson used social media platforms in order to make millions of dollars through lies and deception. They were able to earn more than $13 million from different fraudulent schemes that they promoted on social media. That means $13 million of hundreds or thousands of investors were lost.
An FBI officer also confirmed the crimes committed by these individuals. He said that they use the very old but proven pump and dump schemes to fraud investors. According to the reports, ICOs would pay him to promote their coins on social media channels. And this means that anyone who bought the cryptocurreny because of the tweet didn’t actually know what he/she was buying into.
Arrest!
The individual was arrested in Spain, where he flew to as he also committed tax evasion in the US. As of now, he is in prison near Barcelona and was caught way back in October before he was able to fly to Istanbul. The US is not happy about the fact that he didn’t pay taxes between 2014-18, even after earning millions of dollars through various mediums.
How to avoid such Ponzi schemes?
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It is important for anyone on social media to stay away from fraud. And if you can’t, then it is very difficult to keep your money safe. Just take an example of the investors who poured all their money into the ICOs promoted by John and lost their money. Or the people who follow pump and dump channels and lose cash because of the same reason. Always remember a very simple thing, that it is important for you to do your own research before investing in any cryptocurreny or anything for that matter.
No one on the internet actually cares if you make money or not. So, they also won’t care to share something if it is not of any profit for them. Therefore, anything you read on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, take it with a pinch of salt and stay safe.
What are your thoughts on John Mcafee getting arrested for the frauds and crimes that he committed? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you found our content informative, do like it and share it with your friends.
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