NEW YORK (WABC) — A group of defendants accused of operating what prosecutors described as a “fraud factory” stole more than $7 million in SNAP benefits by repeatedly using stolen EBT card information, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors allege the scheme targeted low-income New Yorkers who rely on food assistance benefits, draining funds intended to help them buy food. Authorities say the stolen benefits were converted into cash and used to purchase luxury vehicles.
“They were people who were going to withdraw funds using an EBT card and the money was gone,” a law enforcement official said.
According to court documents, the defendants are accused of conspiring to “steal more than $7 million” by “using the names of existing or fictitious delis to obtain credit card and EBT processing accounts.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said investigators…
THE HASHFLARE “CLOUD MINING” PONZI SCHEME (GLOBAL/ESTONIA)
Date: February 13, 2025 (Guilty Pleas) Perpetrators: Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin
Case Description: This $577 million cryptocurrency fraud remains one of the largest digital asset scams in history, with major legal developments concluding in 2025. Potapenko and Turogin operated “Hashflare,” which they marketed as a massive cryptocurrency mining operation. Hundreds of thousands of victims worldwide purchased “mining contracts,” believing they were renting hash power to mine Bitcoin. In reality, the duo was running a sophisticated Ponzi scheme.
They created fake customer dashboards that showed “real-time” mining profits, but the money being paid out was simply the capital of newer investors. They laundered the proceeds through shell companies to purchase luxury real estate and a fleet of high-end vehicles. After a massive international investigation involving the FBI and Estonian authorities, the pair agreed to forfeit over $400 million in assets. This case underscores the “Cyber-enabled Fraud” warning issued by the FATF in early 2026: as technology evolves, the scale of fraud moves from local millions to global billions in the blink of an eye.
Link to Original: ACFE – High Profile Fraud of 2025