The Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has said it wants to talk with cryptocurrency exchange Binance about a scam that has grifted over $100 million from several thousand investors, CoinDesk reported Monday (Jan. 10).
The scam in question had to do with 11 mobile applications, 26 wallets and several thousand investors.
On Dec. 20, 2021, there were numerous Pakistan residents who contacted the agency, inquiring about why the apps had stopped working. There were reportedly incidents of defrauding Pakistani people of “billions of rupees.”
The FIA sent a message to Humza Khan, the Binance general manager and growth analyst with Binance Pakistan, asking him “to explain his position on the linkage of fraudulent online investment mobile applications with Binance,” the unit’s head, Imran Riaz, tweeted on Jan. 7.
The report says investors had been asked to register with Binance and then transfer money from their accounts to the mobile applications.
Meanwhile, a Telegram group was established where participants could bet on the rise and fall of bitcoin. As considerable capital was set up, the app crashed and a lot of people lost money. The report says the range of investment was between $100 and $80,000, and the average came out to around $2,000 per person.
The report also notes that all the bank accounts have been blocked and that Telegram has been contacted. In addition, influencers that have promoted the apps have been given legal notices, and Binance has been asked to provide details of the wallets.
PYMNTS has reported on Binance’s troubles before, writing that Ontario’s securities regulator has said Binance has not complied with rules and isn’t authorized to trade in the province.
Read more: Binance is Unauthorized, Says Canadian Regulator
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) notified its investors that Binance had told its staff there would be no new transactions involving Ontario residents as of Dec. 31, 2021.
Binance also issued a notice to users to users indicating the opposite.
The OSC called it “unacceptable” and said that any unregulated platforms operating in the province might face action.
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