Pyramid Schemes Masquerading as Crypto Brokers Collapse, Leaving Russian Investors Holding the Bag for Nearly $13 Million
Another day, another rug pull—this time with a distinctly Russian flavor. The latest crypto scandal sees fraudulent platforms, dressed up as legitimate brokers, vanishing into thin air. They didn't just take the money and run; they perfected the art of the exit scam.
The Anatomy of a Modern Scam
Forget the old-school Ponzi. Today's schemes are digital-first, leveraging the hype and complexity of cryptocurrency to lure in unsuspecting investors. They promise access to the next big thing, offering returns that defy gravity—and basic economics. It's financial alchemy, and the only thing turning to gold is the scammer's offshore account.
Follow the Money (Until It Disappears)
The trail goes cold fast. Funds get shuffled through a maze of wallets and mixed services, leaving regulators scrambling. The average haul? A cool $13 million per collapsed scheme—money that represents life savings, retirement hopes, and plain old-fashioned greed from thousands of individuals. It's a stark reminder that in the wild west of digital assets, the sheriff is often miles behind.
The Regulatory Mirage
Authorities issue warnings, but they're usually closing the barn door after the horse has not only bolted but sold itself as an NFT. The pace of innovation in fraud outstrips the pace of legislation every single time. It's almost enough to make you nostalgic for the simple, regulated incompetence of traditional banks.
This cycle of hype, fraud, and collapse isn't a bug in the crypto ecosystem—for some, it's a core feature. Until real accountability arrives, buyer beware remains the only law that matters.
Fraudsters pose as brokers to pitch crypto investment opportunities
The operators of financial pyramids in Russia are updating their tactics and increasingly posing as brokers providing investment services for cryptocurrencies and securities.
That’s according to Stanislav Kuznetsov, deputy chairman of the board of the majority state-owned Sberbank, the biggest Russian bank by assets.
Losses caused by the activities of each scheme like that reach 1 billion rubles (nearly $12.7 million), the executive revealed in an interview with the RIA Novosti news agency.
“As for the groups that operate like financial pyramids, they have changed their tactics. Previously, they persuaded people to take out loans, offering rewards in return and promising repayment,” Kuznetsov noted, elaborating further:
“Now they are masquerading as pseudo-brokers, offering supposedly profitable participation in cryptocurrencies or securities trading. We have calculated that, on average, one such pyramid defrauds Russians of a billion rubles.”
Over the past year, Sber’s security service was able to identify 38 structures of this kind and thwart their activities, in coordination with Russian law enforcement agencies.
The high-ranking executive unveiled that the bank is relying on advanced technologies in the fight against crime, including artificial intelligence (AI) models and complex algorithms that, in his view, are fundamentally changing the approach to such investigations.
“Our solutions allow us to both anticipate threats and quickly solve crimes. For example, we use algorithms that analyze gigantic volumes of data, which are able to identify connections between suspects and establish their role in a criminal scheme,” Kuznetsov explained.
Crypto becomes Russian fraudsters’ favorite theme ahead of legalization
Russia has a long history of fighting financial pyramids – from one of the largest Ponzi schemes of all time, the 1990s MMM, to the massive crypto-focused Finiko more recently.
In August, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) announced it had found more than 4,000 entities showing signs of illegal activities in the financial market during the first half of 2025.
A quarter of that total, over 1,000, offered “fast and guaranteed” profits from investments in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, the monetary authority highlighted.
In November, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow (MVD) acknowledged that crypto became one of the most popular lures employed by Russian fraudsters last year, as reported by Cryptopolitan.
Then, in early December, a representative of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation alleged that two-thirds of funds obtained from defrauded citizens end up laundered through conversion into cryptocurrency.
However, crypto is not the only theme exploited by scammers. Well ahead of its full-scale launch, scheduled to begin in the fall of 2026, they are already using the digital rubles in multiple schemes, according to an article by the daily Izvestia that went out last September.
Meanwhile, Russian interest toward cryptocurrencies has been growing over the past year, during which financial regulators in Moscow started softening their stance on decentralized digital assets.
Government institutions are now preparing to comprehensively regulate crypto activities and transactions, including investment and trading, in the first half of this year.
Towards the end of last month, the Bank of Russia published an excerpt from its new regulatory concept that envisages recognizing bitcoin and the like as “currency assets.”
Earlier this week, the head of the important parliamentary Committee on Financial Markets, Anatoly Aksakov, announced that Russian lawmakers have already drafted a bill to properly regulate the market and expand legal investor access.
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