The Philippines Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) warned of a crypto Ponzi scheme targeting Filipino, Australian, and European investors on March 30.

The scheme, Bitcoin Revolution, comprises a classic Ponzi in which investors are offered exorbitant compounding daily returns on deposited funds.

Bitcoin Revolution claims to have software that produces trades with a success rate of betwixt 88% and 95% — offering a path to vii-effigy condition over but 61 days. From an initial deposit of just $250, the scammer claims that investors tin can earn 300% per twenty-four hours or 9,000% per month.

Bitcoin Revolution brokers face 21 years in prison

The SEC warns that those who human action equally salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of Bitcoin Revolution, including through online solicitation and recruitment, will face to 21 years imprisonment and or up to $100,000 in fines aslope SEC sanctions.

The regulator asserts that Bitcoin Revolution is offering unregistered securities in the form of investment contracts to the public in breathy violation of Philippine securities laws. The scheme is not registered as a company with the SEC and does not accept licensing from the Philippine key bank to operate with digital avails.

Ponzis utilize fake glory endorsements to advertise on social media

Like many ponzi schemes, Bitcoin Revolution is promoted on social media using fake glory endorsements and news stories.

At the start of March, a former employee blew the whistle on a Ukrainian Bitcoin investment scam with 200 employees. The scheme was operated by a firm called Milton Grouping, which occupied 2 floors of an function building in Kyiv. Once a victim had invested in the scheme, they would face an onslaught of phone calls pressuring them to make farther deposits into the scam.

The whistleblower claimed that the scheme netted $70 meg in 2022, scamming investors in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The company promoted themselves through fraudulent news stories on Facebook, which detailed how local celebrities had earned a fortune through crypto trading.