Perhaps some of you never heard of OneCoin nor about Dr. Ruja's “Cryptoqueen” Ignatova. OneCoin took advantage of Bitcoin going mainstream in 2014 and scammed millions of people. Oddly enough, the story is not over to this day. According to the U.S. government, they stole around $4 billion, but some internal sources that worked with OneCoin claim that they could steal up to $19.4 billion.
Chapter I — “This girl is on fire.”
When the OneCoin founder was introduced to the Wembley stage in front of a huge crowd during her world tour, “This girl is on fire” playing in the background. It looked like a cult, believers that are worshiping their “God.” Dr. Ruja was an equivalent of a perfectionist, fluent in several languages, Ph.D. degree granted from Oxford University, appeared on several magazine covers including Bulgarian Forbes, Financial IT, and most notably with incredible charisma. As for today, it’s obvious that the OneCoin team got close to 0 blockchain knowledge, only using “Bitcoin” and “Cryptocurrency” as a buzzword to attract more investors. Using only basic crypto phrases that were easy to remember. Preaching the financial revolution, speaking about banking the unbanked, bashing banks all this with enormous charisma and persuasion. Whoever tried to call OneCoin out was destroyed by charismatic speakers and blind believers. They call such people “haters” or “jealous” to further manipulate excited fans worldwide. Most of the participants got no knowledge whatsoever about cryptocurrency. All they could see is that OneCoin is the next Bitcoin, and they can’t miss such an opportunity to get rich.
Chapter II — How it works?
People could choose between several education packages that cost between €110 and €188,000. Each package includes “tokens,” which can be assigned to “mine” OneCoins. The only way to sell the tokens was thanks to the internal exchange for users who bought more than just a starter package. OneCoin wanted to create an illusion that you can sell your tokens. Obviously, there was no demand, so they needed to sell limits per user as the OneCoin company could cover only small selloffs. Since 1 March 2016, the “exchange” is closed. However, it wasn’t a real exchange. People were able to trade the tokens for euros with the OneCoin company, not with the users. Obviously, there was a huge, proper Ponzi affiliate program. The only profit for members is coming from inviting others and getting a commission from it. 60% in EUR and 40% in tokens, but the tokens are useless, only 60% in fiat counts.
Chapter III — Cryptocurrency without a blockchain?
OneCoin was promoted as a revolution, a competitor to banks, and “Bitcoin killer,” but it was never a cryptocurrency. There was not a public blockchain nor a private one. All there was a centralized database of people and the tokens, or more accurately, we can call them “coupons” that victims were acquiring by buying packages. OneCoin did manage to buy two blockchain audits by some unknown German lawyers. So whenever someone confronted them that there is no evidence of a blockchain, they replied that they have 2 blockchain audits, and all is good. Thanks to not having a blockchain, OneCoin was never listed on any public exchange. According to early respected Bitcoin adopter Bjorn Bjercke, he was approached in 2016 by a recruitment group from China offering him 250,000 $ in salary, a car, and two apartments to become a global CTO for OneCoin and create a blockchain for them. 2 years after the so-called cryptocurrency was launched they wanted someone to create a blockchain for them... Just for notice, he Refuses. What’s even funnier is that 2 weeks before that, Dr. Ruja announced their “new and better blockchain” at one of their public events. To my surprise, during that event, she announced that they would increase the maximum supply and double everyone's coins.
There was never a price of OneCoin, there was only a price that Ruja has come up with, and everyone believed that their investment is going up. So simple, yet so powerful.
Chapter IV — “She is gone.”
People started to be impatient; even the high-ranked members were waiting for regular public exchange, allowing people to exchange their tokens for fiat or other cryptocurrencies. However, empty promises kept them faithful. Meanwhile, Dr. Ruja was all over the place: Dubai, Sofia, London, and every possible country that you can think of, and the houses were packed until Lisbon in October 2017. Everyone was expecting her on the stage, but she never arrived. High-ranked members, team members, and even her own brother were shocked. From this day, the FBI has 1 last record of DR. Ruja. She booked a flight from Sofia to Athens and since that day she has vanished.
Chapter V — ” The scam continuous.”
After Ruja run away, her brother Konstantin Ignatov took her spot. After 2 years in charge as a OneCoin CEO, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to several charges, including money laundering and fraud, at Los Angles International Airport in March 2019. Dr. Ruja received several charges as well, but she is still missing. You might think, “After that, OneCoin can’t scam more people,” but oh boy, all is possible in the scammy world. There is still a strong base of OneCoin supporters and leaders to this day. To give you perspective, a petition was made to free Konstantin Ignatov, and almost 20,000 OneCoin supporters signed it. There is still content coming out daily about OneCoin and its “great growth,” speaking about that exchange is coming soon, etc.… To understand such irrational behavior from some people, I’ve listened to someone taking part in it. Jen McAdam invested in OneCoin and persuaded her family to invest; the final amount of money lost grew to £216,000. Right now, she is trying to expose OneCoin as much as she can to redeem herself, even tho she is getting death threats because of it.
‘I’ve been looking over my shoulder for the last two and a half years. It’s very cult-like and that’s what’s terrifying and it gives me anxiety because you never know who would actually take action.’ -Jen McAdam for Metro.co.uk
When it comes to OneCoin, people deeply involved in this scam are scared to talk out loud about the scam. When there is such a big amount of money, the mafia is most likely involved as other dark powers that we are not aware of. People who are part of the movement are told that everyone trying to expose OneCoin is a hater, jealous, or a Bitcoin troll.
Conclusion
OneCoin is one of the biggest scams in scams history, not only in the cryptocurrency world. The funniest part is that it was never a cryptocurrency, to begin with. They scammed a lot of money. It could be anywhere from $4b to $19,4b. The sad part is that they are operating to this day. They made people believe that Dr. Ruja is a “God,” they made people believe in OneCoin, combining that with fake events, fake promotions, and offline meetings to pump adrenaline into the people and gain their trust, they created a monster. That monster is scamming millions out of the poor, uneducated, and greedy people. It seems like it can’t be killed. People were so blind that they believed in their OneCoin fake USD balance shown on the website. If this was all true and they would be able to sell the tokens at such rates, that would take many of them into the top richest people on the planet.
There is an awesome BBC podcast investigation series about the whole OneCoin scam. Leaked sensitive company documents, exposing emails, and any other things didn’t kill some hardcore members' beliefs. This story is exciting and terrifying at the same time. After a deeper investigation of OneCoin, it’s almost clear that it wasn’t just “some” people scamming poor investors, but the well-organized and dangerous group that most members’ names will never be known.
Thank you for your time, everyone.
Ben DAO MAKER
