SEC charges NanoBit and CoinW6 with using social media to run cryptocurrency “relationship investment scam”

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged fake cryptocurrency platforms NanoBit and CoinW6 with defrauding investors and stealing their funds, the first time the agency has charged such scams. The SEC filed two lawsuits against five entities and three individuals in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York and the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Tuesday. Both lawsuits allege that investors were "induced" on social media, including through WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Instagram, as part of a "relationship investment scam." "Relationship investment scams, including those involving crypto asset investments, pose a risk of catastrophic harm to retail investors, and the threat is rapidly increasing as these scams become more popular among scammers," Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a statement on Tuesday. From October 2023 to June 2024, scammers posed as "financial industry professionals" through WhatsApp groups to get customers to invest through a fake crypto platform called NanoBit. To convince investors that the platform was secure, NanoBit falsely claimed that its affiliate NanobitUS Securities was a broker-dealer registered with the SEC. These so-called financial professionals then hyped up fake ICOs, claiming to offer investors impressive returns. Instead of investing, the funds went to "scheme participants," who then wired more than $2 million to Hong Kong, China, through bank accounts. As for CoinW6, the SEC said those involved in the scheme pretended to be wealthy young professionals and contacted victimized investors through LinkedIn and Instagram, while also "pursuing romantic relationships on WhatsApp." The alleged scammers claimed that investors could earn up to 3% in returns per day from CoinW6's stocks, mining and other products. "In reality, investors' funds were misappropriated and their apparent investments, profits and account balances were fictitious," the SEC said. (The Block)