US family created 'God's blessings through cryptocurrency' pyramid scheme

The CFTC has charged the creators of the "God's Blessings Through Cryptocurrency" pyramid scheme in the US

The scammers told investors that their $6 million in funds were being used to trade futures contracts on digital assets, but never executed a single transaction

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged a Tennessee couple in the US with creating a $6m fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme.

Michael and Amanda Griffis operated an investment pyramid scheme called "God's Blessings Through Cryptocurrency" from July 2022 to January 2023, which included more than 100 participants.

The scammers used their real estate company connections to attract new wealthy victims. The victims included mortgage brokers and former clients of the couple.

"Despite having no trading or other relevant experience, the defendants were able to convince more than 100 people to wire them more than $6 million to participate in the fraudulent commodities pool," the CFTC statement elaborated.

The defendants told investors that their funds were involved in trading digital asset futures contracts, but no trades were ever executed. The pair kept $4 million in personal crypto wallets and used more than $1 million to pay off personal debts and buy expensive items.

In July, two 17-year-olds in Canada stole more than $4 million in cryptocurrency by posing as employees of the Coinbase exchange. The young men claimed to be support staff of the crypto exchange.