Most Wanted Ruja Ignatova, Worth 5.000 Euros For Those Who Can Catch The Crypto Queen

Sosok Ruja Ignatova alias Crypto Queen. (Market Tactic)

JAKARTA - The European authorities, Europol, will give a bonus of 5.000 euros (IDR 76 million) for people who can catch Ruja Ignatova. The reason is, Ignatova is the mastermind behind the OneCoin Ponzi scheme fraud which has disappeared since 2017.

Amid the increasing adoption of crypto in various countries, Ponzi schemes and various other crypto scams have also increased. OneCoin is one such example.

On May 11, Europol added Ruja Ignatova, founder of OneCoin, to Europe's most wanted list, offering a bounty of up to 5.000 euros to anyone who helps trace her whereabouts.

As per Europol information, Ignatova is wanted for crimes related to fraud affecting the financial interests of people in the European Union. Ruja Ignatova is now on Europol's Most Wanted list.

According to a CryptoPotato report, Ignatova managed to raise more than 5 Billion euros via OneCoin from defrauding investors in more than 170 countries. Ignatova launched the “OneCoin” project in mid-2014, selling it to investors. He called it the “Bitcoin Killer”.

However, as is the case with many Ponzi schemes, such as Arbistar or Bitconnect, when Ignatova feels in danger, she runs away, taking billions of dollars with her.

In December 2016, the Italian Antitrust Authority issued an order against the company One Network Services Ltd [OneCoin], which described its activities as an “illegal pyramid sales system.” But it wasn't until 2017 that company accounts in various parts of the world were frozen.

According to Europol, Ignatova's whereabouts have not been known since October 25, 2017. Allegedly, this happened after she found out after the US Government investigated her. Some time later he disappeared, leaving his brother Konstantin Ignatov (who was arrested in 2019) in charge of the project.

In addition, Europol says that the losses caused by OneCoin worldwide amount to billions of dollars. Europol added that Ignatova and her colleagues could potentially be armed and anyone wishing to collaborate with the authorities should exercise caution.

“The fraud-related losses that have occurred so far are in the upper double-digit million range. The losses incurred on a global scale may amount to several billion USD," the authorities said, quoted from CryptoPotato.

Until now, Ruja Ignatova is wanted by European and US authorities. His whereabouts have not been revealed. Therefore Europol is offering 5.000 euros to anyone who can help the authorities catch the scam.