ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the U.S. Treasury has sanctioned a cryptocurrency wallet associated with the Russian Aeza Group, which contains approximately $350,000 in funds. Aeza is accused of being a hosting service provider for ransomware and information theft programs, allegedly providing infrastructure support for multiple cybercriminal activities.The wallet is located on the Tron blockchain and serves as a management wallet for Aeza, used for receiving and transferring funds, and is linked to several sanctioned entities. The sanctions also include senior officials of Aeza and affiliated companies, with related U.S. assets being frozen, and U.S. individuals and entities are prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the European Police Organization announced that the Spanish National Police, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Estonia, France, and the United States, has dismantled a cryptocurrency investment scam gang that defrauded over 5,000 victims worldwide. The operation resulted in the arrest of five individuals, three of whom were captured in the Canary Islands, and two in Madrid.This criminal network laundered approximately $539 million (around €460 million) through fraudulent investment schemes. Investigators found that the criminals operated a global network of affiliates to assist with cash withdrawals, bank transfers, and cryptocurrency transactions, while also allegedly establishing companies and banking infrastructure in Hong Kong to manage the illicit funds.

ChainCatcher message, a16z stated on social media, "Earlier today, our X account was briefly compromised. During this time, the account posted a certain token and other false content, none of which came from a16z. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the attackers who temporarily controlled our account."

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, Israeli military officials refuse to disclose whether the United States was involved in the attack on Iran, stating that operations are still ongoing; Israel has carried out targeted elimination operations against senior Iranian military officials.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the Fifth District Court of Barcelona is investigating a cryptocurrency fraud case involving professional football players. The company involved, Shirtum, is accused of defrauding investors of at least $3.4 million through an NFT project endorsed by star players. The six players involved include World Cup champion Papu Gómez, Lucas Ocampos, former Barcelona players Ivan Rakitić and Javier Saviola, as well as Nico Pareja and Alberto Moreno.Prosecutor documents show that this Spanish-Argentine joint venture evaded taxes through a complex corporate structure, and the player image rights NFTs they sold never realized trading functionality. After the players participated as "founders" in the promotion, relevant social media evidence was systematically deleted. In March 2022, the company claimed to have suffered a hacking attack but did not file a police report, and subsequently, the platform quietly shut down.

ChainCatcher news, according to CCTV News, the police in Suzhou, Anhui recently cracked a case involving the sale of bank cards for "remote money laundering" using virtual currency, with an amount involved exceeding 80 million yuan. Investigations revealed that the criminal gang formed a "ticketing" group relying on an overseas criminal organization, recruited card dealers through social media, and organized a "card dealer fleet" to collect cards domestically and complete cash withdrawals, purchase virtual currency, and other operations, allowing cross-border fund laundering without the bank cards leaving the country.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Capital Public Security Legal System WeChat account, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Legal System Division and the Beijing Equity Exchange (hereinafter referred to as "BEE") have established a cooperation mechanism for the disposal of virtual currencies involved in cases, jointly signing the "Framework Agreement on Business Cooperation for the Disposal of Virtual Currencies Involved in Cases," which includes the disposal of virtual currencies involved in cases under the category of "physical submission."The article states that in response to the frequent occurrence of virtual currency crimes in recent years, and addressing the practical issue of "the inability to directly dispose of and cash out virtual currencies involved in cases within the country" as well as the risks of cross-border disposal, the Legal System Division of the Municipal Bureau and BEE have further expanded the cooperation disposal area. They have conducted thorough research and demonstration on the policies, regulations, and operational pathways for such special case-related assets, exploring a new channel for overseas disposal.That is: Public security organs will entrust the physical disposal of virtual currencies involved in cases to BEE. After accepting the entrustment from the public security organs, BEE will select professional service institutions to conduct operations such as testing, receiving, and transferring the virtual currencies involved in cases, and will publicly cash out and sell them through a compliant licensed exchange in Hong Kong. After fulfilling the national foreign exchange management approval procedures, the converted funds will be transferred to the special account for case-related funds of the public security organs and submitted to the national treasury.Currently, this model has been successfully applied to dispose of virtual currencies involved in a case handled by the Shunyi Public Security Sub-bureau.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Russian police have arrested a person suspected of involvement in a cryptocurrency mining scam, with the case involving an amount of 270 million rubles (approximately 3.2 million USD) and a total of 100 victims.A local resident reported to the police in February this year that he had handed over an ASIC mining machine to a person claiming to operate a "mining hotel," who promised to provide passive income. The 26-year-old suspect and his two accomplices are accused of selling the received mining machines and embezzling the funds intended for purchasing other mining equipment.

ChainCatcher news, according to official news, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on May 20, 2025, that it has filed a lawsuit against Unicoin Inc. in New York City and its three executives, accusing them of fraud in the issuance of token rights certificates and common stock.According to the SEC investigation, Unicoin falsely claimed to over 5,000 investors that its tokens were backed by "billions of dollars in real estate and pre-IPO company equity" through extensive promotion via airports, taxis, television, and social media, while the actual asset value was only a small fraction of what was claimed; it falsely reported having sold over $3 billion in rights certificates, while the actual fundraising did not exceed $110 million; and it incorrectly claimed that its securities were "SEC registered" or "U.S. registered."The SEC has brought multiple charges against CEO Alex Konanykhin, former president Silvina Moschini, and former chief investment officer Alex Dominguez, seeking permanent injunctions, the recovery of illegal gains, and civil penalties. The company's general counsel, Richard Devlin, has agreed to pay a $37,500 fine.

ChainCatcher news, according to Crowdfundinsider, the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv, Ukraine, ruled to transfer virtual assets seized in a major fraud and illegal gambling investigation to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA). The assets involved come from a digital wallet registered on the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, owned by a Ukrainian national (ОСОБА_6), suspected of laundering money through unlicensed platforms such as rollbit.com. The total value of the seized assets exceeds 500 million hryvnias, far exceeding regulatory thresholds. The court also ordered Binance to cooperate with the asset transfer through its Seychelles-registered entity, Nest Services Limited.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Paraguayan law enforcement has disclosed that three Chinese nationals have been expelled for illegal entry and one Paraguayan suspect has been arrested. This group is suspected of attempting to steal from the cryptocurrency mining site of Teratech SA in Coronel Bogado. The prosecution stated that the three expelled individuals had no legal entry records and are suspected of entering illegally through the borders of Brazil or Bolivia.Paraguayan prosecutor Irene Rolón pointed out that the arrested Paraguayan suspect, Nahun María Velázquez Garcete, has now been charged with serious theft, and the case is still under further investigation.It is reported that the mining site is located near the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant, which attracts many cryptocurrency mining operations due to its abundant hydroelectric resources.The prosecution is verifying the specific relationship between the three expelled individuals and the involved company. The specific details of the case's losses and the suspects' injuries have not yet been disclosed.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Hongxing News, Sichuan Public Security has released 10 typical cases of economic crimes, including the "2 • 6" illegal operation (foreign exchange) case. In this case, since August 2021, Fan, He, Chen, and others set up studios and technology consulting companies in Chengdu, using social networking software to conduct targeted traffic for specific clients. They colluded with domestic agents of overseas foreign exchange institutions to provide illegal cross-border RMB exchange services through methods such as cashing out overseas gift cards and virtual currency trading, with a total amount involved exceeding 3.9 billion yuan. A total of 21 criminal suspects were successfully apprehended in this case, which concluded its investigation in December 2024 and was transferred for prosecution.

ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, last week, Israeli police arrested a hacker suspected of participating in the Nomad attack, which resulted in the theft of $190 million in crypto assets from the cross-chain protocol and ultimately its collapse.The suspect, Alexander Gurevich, was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. He holds dual citizenship of Russia and Israel and was attempting to travel to Russia using identification under a different name at the time of his arrest.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the founders of the crypto fintech company Bankera have been accused of using funds raised from the 2018 Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to purchase luxury properties worldwide.According to leaked company records and bank statements, founders Vytautas Karalevičius, Justas Dobiliauskas, and Mantas Mockevičius transferred nearly half of the ICO funds (approximately $114 million) into a bank they purchased in Vanuatu. The bank subsequently issued loans to companies owned by the three for the acquisition of luxury properties in the French Riviera and Lithuania.Bankera had promised to become "the bank of the blockchain era" and obtain an EU banking license, but this has not yet been realized. Its originally planned profit-sharing program was suspended in 2022. The founders' lawyer denied any fraudulent activity in the ICO but declined to comment on specific transactions.

ChainCatcher news, Binance co-founder posted a statement on social media stating that she is not involved in any project investments, communications, token launches, or endorsements, and the only project she is involved in is BNB. She reminded the public to be cautious of AI-generated fake voices and videos, emphasizing the need to independently verify information.

ChainCatcher news, Yichun Gao'an police successfully dismantled a fraud gang that used "friendship investment" as a pretext to launder money through virtual currency. It was found that the suspect Yao used "bank transfers are easily restricted" as a reason to lure victims into investing by withdrawing cash and then exchanging it for virtual currency offline. The gang collected the fraudulent proceeds through offline exchanges of virtual currency and then transferred the scam funds to their superiors to illegally obtain rewards, with the amount involved exceeding 4 million yuan.

ChainCatcher news, according to CryptoSlate, the Nigerian digital asset trading platform CBEX has been exposed as a Ponzi scheme, causing significant financial losses for many investors. Although local media initially reported losses as high as 1.3 trillion naira (approximately 800 million USD), analysis indicates that the address is actually a Binance hot wallet, and the real loss amount may be closer to 12 million USD.CBEX claims to be the "China Beijing Equity Exchange," but it has no connection to the officially named institution in China. The platform, under the guise of AI quantitative strategies, promises to double returns in 30 days, attracting a large number of investors and requiring them to recruit others for commissions, essentially operating as a typical Ponzi structure. The project was even promoted in Nigerian national media as a "poverty alleviation program," further misleading users.By April 2025, CBEX suddenly froze accounts, preventing users from withdrawing funds, which sparked public outrage. Some investors besieged its offices in Ibadan and Lagos, and many victims shared their loss experiences on social media.Independent analyst Specter pointed out that CBEX is linked to other similar scams, LWEX and PCEX, suspected of sharing website architecture and funding flow patterns. The related wallets are also connected to the Southeast Asian payment system Huione Pay, which has been listed by Elliptic as one of the main hubs for money laundering and telecom fraud, involving over 24 billion USD in suspicious transactions.

ChainCatcher news, according to PR Newswire, Nasdaq-listed company Nature's Miracle Holding Inc. (NMHI), which is involved in the Bitcoin mining sector, announced that it has reached a financing agreement of up to $2 million (with an initial financing amount of $600,000), with Big Lake Capital as the investor.Last year, NMHI entered the Bitcoin mining market by acquiring a majority stake in the Bitcoin mining company J&Y Marigold for a total purchase price of $5.32 million. Its Bitcoin mining facilities are expected to be operational in the first half of 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to Dahe Opinion reports, the People's Court of the Economic Development Zone in Heze City, Shandong Province, has heard a telecom network fraud case involving Indian nationals as victims, related to virtual currency "Killing Foreigners" scams. It is reported that the criminals used high returns as bait to attract Indians to invest money, and then purchased 'USDT' virtual currency through a third-party payment platform with the invested funds, converting the virtual currency into RMB or USD and extracting a 15% profit.The court found that from June 1, 2023, to January 13, 2024, within just over 7 months, 66,800 Indians were defrauded, with a total fraud amount reaching 517 million Indian Rupees (approximately over 40 million RMB). Nine fraudsters were sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from five years to fourteen years and nine months, along with fines.