<center><img src="https://i.imgur.com/mKbtD6J.jpg"/></center>

[source](https://techcentral.co.za/anatomy-of-a-bitcoin-scam-how-mti-duped-investors/107947/)



I was reading an article today about the FBI coming in to help the South African creditors track down the missing Bitcoin in the MTI scam that happened late last year. Firstly they have to find Mr Steynberg who had the keys to the account which shouldn't be that difficult as it is suspected he is still in the country. A check of the video surveillance at the airport in Brazil showed that he never arrived as first thought. The key is his family is still here so that is a red flag as he cannot be that far away.

With a reported 23 000 Bitcoin he would be a good find for any bounty hunter and surely offering a reward would have been the best way of solving this quickly. People talk when there is financial gain to be had and even if it was a 10% bounty (2300 Bitcoin) I don't think he will stay hidden for long. I may even be tempted as this one is close to home.

A bounty may have been the best way forward as the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has filed court papers stating that the scheme was a Ponzi scheme and in that case all the funds are forfeited to the State. This is why the FBI are here as the Government getting involved puts the "investors " money at risk and many are from the USA. There is a race on now who can find him first and hope the FBI manage to find him quickly otherwise the funds are heading to the Government coffers.

I heard a rumour last week that the other two scammers from Africrypt have a bounty on their heads and that there were three paid hits out on them. What does anyone expect when there is this type of money involved as people are killed and knocked off for way less. If you have millions tied up you will obviously want to get that back so paying someone to find and retrieve your investment is the obvious action to take. Why rely on others when according to the authorities no law has been broken as crypto is in no mans land right now over here.

The FBI getting involved may actually save Mr Steynberg if he hasn't been eliminated already. If you aren't a criminal used to this type of thing them staying on the run is not worth the rewards you have stolen as your life is never going to be normal. Even the best get caught like the chap played by Di Caprio in the movie "Catch me if you can". That guy was intelligent and smart yet he still couldn't stay on the run forever and ended up being employed by the FBI as he was that good.

I saw that Russia or more precisely the Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service aka Rosfinmonitoring has contracted a developer to create a platform for monitoring cryptocurrency transactions. The idea is to find any illicit deals happening and to also put firstly the wallets involved and then a face and a name against them. It is funny to think that this is even possible but people have habits that will ultimately give themselves away. Who needs KYC when you have the Russians around and will be interesting to see if they can actually develop this type of technology.

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