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Angry Mob Burns Down Home of Suspected Bitcoin Swindler

posted by martyb on Thursday July 18 2019, @12:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the follow-the-money dept.

upstart writes in with a submission, via IRC, for AnonymousLuser.

Angry mob burns down home of suspected Bitcoin swindler:

A man thought to have been behind an alleged Bitcoin Ponzi scheme has had his house looted and burned to the ground in South Africa, reports Times Live. Sphelele "Sgumza" Mbatha was reportedly the operator of "Bitcoin Wallets," a scheme which promised investors a 100 percent return on their investment after 15 days.

The arson came a week after Mbatha admitted to the Ladysmith Gazettethat he didn't have any more cash to pay out, and said that investors would need to submit their details online to receive their payouts. He also claimed to not be the owner of the company, despite having registered the business "Bitcoin Wallets Achievers" the previous week. The following week he then said that hackers had infiltrated the website and had stolen investor's money, according to Times Live.

Mbatha's whereabouts are currently unknown

The arson came after angry crowds had previously gathered outside Bitcoin Wallets' headquarters as well as the local police station. Mbatha was reportedly offered assistance by the authorities to relocate the company on the condition that he provided a business plan to prove it was legitimate. However, the documents had not been produced as of last week. A spokesperson from South Africa's National Credit Regulator had previously raised doubts about the company's official documentation.

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  • (Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Thursday July 18 2019, @12:49AM (1 child)

    by Barenflimski (6836) on Thursday July 18 2019, @12:49AM (#868304)

    With a central bank behind loans, you get a paid police force to protect the bankers. Any poor lending schemes would be paid for by the users of the currency (taxpayers). You would never know who actually owned your loans, so there would be no one person to be upset at. All parties that lose money would have the option of spending years in courts for a percentage of their loss, all while creating jobs for lawyers. And anyhow, the central bank wouldn't have allowed the use of bitcoin in the first place so there would be no room for new players in the banking industry.

    Just think of the tyranny if not for a central bank.

    [Brought to you by CrappyBank]

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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday July 18 2019, @01:36AM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 18 2019, @01:36AM (#868313) Journal

    With a central bank behind loans, you get a paid police force to protect the bankers.
    ...
    And anyhow, the central bank wouldn't have allowed the use of bitcoin in the first place so there would be no room for new players in the banking industry.
    Just think of the tyranny if not for a central bank.

    I'm not sure what you are saying here.
    Are you suggesting the banksters should stop or are you suggesting the police protection should be extended to small-player money-swindlers? (large grin)

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford