On July 13, TheBlock reported that a U.S. Department of Justice document revealed that two individuals sent over 250,000 USDT to a wallet address associated with Nigerian scammers, mistakenly believing they were donating to President Trump's inaugural committee. The victims are identified as "Ivan" and "Mouna," while the CEO of crypto payment company MoonPay is Ivan Soto-Wright, and the CFO is Mouna Ammari Siala. One of the wallets involved in the fraudulent transaction was previously identified as belonging to Soto-Wright, and the wallet receiving the funds is registered under the name of Nigerian man Ehiremen Aigbokhan. [BlockBeats]

Key Takeaways: MoonPay was hit by a high-profile scam targeting its CEO and CFO, despite its recent expansion into all 50 U.S. states, highlighting the other side of crypto adoption. An elaborate online scam recently tricked two top MoonPay executives into losing over $250,000, according to a U.S. Department of Justice filing. The filing states that the scam involved 40,350 USDT, now frozen in Tether accounts and under government recovery efforts. Although the filing identifies the victims only as “Ivan” and “Mouna,” crypto outlet NOTUS reported that they are likely Ivan Soto-Wright, MoonPay’s co-founder and CEO, and Mouna Ammari Siala, the company’s CFO. The scammers allegedly convinced the executives to transfer funds to an account they believed belonged to real estate developer Steve Witkoff, a former co-chair of Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. Remarking on which, the DOJ filing added, MoonPay execs fall victim to scam Authorities suspect that Aigbokhan orchestrated the scam involving 40,350 USDT and cross-border money transfers within the U.S. Needless to say, the case emerges at a crucial moment for MoonPay, as the company recently gained major regulatory traction. After initially launching in just a few U.S. states, MoonPay secured the prestigious BitLicense from the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). This approval allowed the company to legally operate across all 50 states, an essential step for any crypto firm aiming for national credibility and broader market access. It remains to be seen how MoonPay will move forward, especially in terms of user trust and platform integrity. Dark side of crypto adoption Crypto-related scams have become increasingly sophisticated over the past years, with 2024 being the year of severe threats. The FBI’s latest IC3 report revealed that Americans lost a record $9.3 billion to such fraud. This was a sharp 66% rise compared to 2023. Such rising scams point to one thing — there is an urgent need for stronger regulatory oversight as the digital asset space grows. [NOTUS]

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MoonPay execs fall victim to $250K crypto scam: ‘Accounts originating from Nigeria’

<p>July 13th, According to TheBlock, a document from the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that two individuals sent over 250,000 USDT to a wallet address associated with a Nigerian scammer, believing they were donating to the Trump Presidential Inaugural Committee. The victims are identified as "Ivan" and "Mouna," with Ivan Soto-Wright, the CEO of the cryptocurrency payment company MoonPay, and Mouna Ammari Siala, the CFO. One of the wallets involved in this scam transaction had previously been confirmed as belonging to Soto-Wright, while the wallet receiving the funds is registered under the name of Nigerian man Ehiremen Aigbokhan.</p> [BlockBeats]

MoonPay Executive Reportedly Loses Over $250,000 to Nigerian Scammer

On July 13, TheBlock reported that a document from the U.S. Department of Justice revealed that two individuals sent over 250,000 USDT to a wallet address associated with Nigerian scammers, mistakenly believing they were donating to President Trump's inaugural committee. The victims are identified as "Ivan" and "Mouna," while the CEO of crypto payment company MoonPay is Ivan Soto-Wright, and the CFO is Mouna Ammari Siala. One of the wallets involved in the fraudulent transaction had previously been identified as belonging to Soto-Wright, and the wallet receiving the funds was registered under the name of Nigerian man Ehiremen Aigbokhan. [BlockBeats]

MoonPay Executive Allegedly Scammed Out of Over $250,000 by Nigerian Fraudsters

On July 13 (UTC+8), MetaEra reported that on July 13 (UTC+8), a document filed by the U.S. Department of Justice shows that Moonpay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and CFO Mouna Ammari Siala sent over $250,000.00 to a wallet address associated with a Nigerian scammer, mistakenly believing it was a donation to President Trump's inaugural committee. The scammer's email address, steve_witkoff@t47lnaugural.com, had the letter "L" in lowercase instead of the uppercase "I". (Source: PANews) [MetaEra]

Two MoonPay executives allegedly mistakenly transferred $250,000 to a disguised scam address.

According to The Block, NOTUS stated that a document filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to recover fraudulently obtained cryptocurrency may have inadvertently revealed that the victims of the scam were the CEO and CFO of crypto payment company MoonPay. [Foresight News]

MoonPay Executive May Have Sent $250,000 to Nigerian Scammer, US Department of Justice Documents Show

A U.S. Department of Justice document shows that MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright and CFO Mouna Ammari Siala were suspected victims of a crypto scam, transferring over $250,000 USDT to a scammer posing as the co-chair of Trump's Inaugural Committee. The scammer impersonated Steve Witkoff by replacing the uppercase "I" in the email address with a lowercase "L" to commit the fraud. [The Block]

MoonPay Executive Suspected of Crypto Scam, Mistakenly Transfers Over $250,000.00 USDT to Imposter

A Department of Justice filing aiming to recover fraudulently obtained cryptocurrency may have inadvertently revealed the scam's victims as the CEO and CFO of crypto payment firm MoonPay, as first reported by NOTUS.

The filing, which aims to seize around $40,350 in USDT frozen by Tether, reveals that two victims sent $250,300 in USDT to a person posing as Steve Witkoff, co-chair of the President Trump's inaugural committee. However, records obtained from Binance revealed that the wallet that received the funds was registered to Ehiremen Aigbokhan, a man based in Lagos, Nigeria.

The victims are identified in the filing only as "Ivan" and "Mouna." However, as NOTUS noticed, Crypto payment firm Moonpay's CEO is Ivan Soto-Wright and its CFO is Mouna Ammari Siala. Furthermore, a wallet involved in the $250,300 transaction is listed by Etherscan as a MoonPay wallet.

A separate lawsuit filed in 2023 alleged Soto-Wright used the same wallet to fund a personal wallet. MoonPay did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Block.

While some scams in crypto have sophisticated on-chain exploits at their root, this scam appears to be simpler: the scammer's email, [email protected], contained a lowercase 'L' instead of a capital 'I,' a common tactic used to disguise one address as another, as the two letters look identical in many sans-serif fonts. The scammer used another address disguised in a similar manner: [email protected].

"IP geolocation data consistently showed emails from these accounts originating from Nigeria, and not the United States," the filing states. "It appeared likely that Aigbokhan received an international transfer of funds from the U.S. to Nigeria as a result of his fraudulent activity."

MoonPay in June received approval to offer its services in all 50 U.S. states after receiving a BitLicense from New York regulators.

MoonPay executives may have sent $250,000 to Nigerian scammer, DoJ filing suggests

7月13日，TheBlock报道，美国司法部的一份文件显示，两名个人向与尼日利亚诈骗分子相关的钱包地址发送了超过25万USDT，他们误以为是在向特朗普总统的就职委员会捐款。受害者被确认分别为“Ivan”和“Mouna”，而加密支付公司MoonPay的CEO是Ivan Soto-Wright，CFO是Mouna Ammari Siala。涉及此次诈骗交易的钱包之一此前被认定属于Soto-Wright，而接收资金的钱包则注册在尼日利亚男子Ehiremen Aigbokhan名下。[BlockBeats]

据称，MoonPay高管被尼日利亚诈骗团伙骗取了超过25万美元。

7月13日，TheBlock報道，美國司法部的一份文件顯示，兩名個人向與尼日利亞詐騙分子相關的錢包地址發送了超過25萬USDT，他們誤以爲是在向特朗普總統的就職委員會捐款。受害者被確認分別爲“Ivan”和“Mouna”，而加密支付公司MoonPay的CEO是Ivan Soto-Wright，CFO是Mouna Ammari Siala。涉及此次詐騙交易的錢包之一此前被認定屬於Soto-Wright，而接收資金的錢包則註冊在尼日利亞男子Ehiremen Aigbokhan名下。[BlockBeats]