$72K Fine Given To Singapore Man For Promoting OneCoin Crypto Scam

Fok Fook Seng, a 52-year-old Singapore man, has been found guilty on Wednesday. The charges laid against him was in regards to illegally promoting OneCoin, a pyramid scheme masquerading as a multi-level marketing scheme based on its own cryptocurrency.

Fok Fook Seng Fined $72,000

Seng was convicted and subsequently fined 100,000 Singaporean Dollars, which amounts to approximately 72,000 USD. This was for the illegal marketing of Onecoin between the time frame of January of 2016 and June of 2017. This was reported on Friday by the local news outlet, The Straits Times.

The Singapore Police Force made a statement about the matter. They explained that Seng was first charged under the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act of 2000. They stated that Seng had used the “OneLife One World Team Singapore” Facebook page in order to advertise the Onecoin scheme, as well as promote it at various significant events.

Many Victims In A Messy Scam

Due to these actions and others like it, 1,180 people fell victim to the scheme, both within Singapore and without. These individuals were sold educational packages that came included with a number of OneCoin tokens. These tokens, according to what was advertised, could be used to “mine” more of the OneCoin cryptocurrency, according to the report.

However, nothing was as it seemed, and OneCoin has already been deemed fraudulent within the US. The top figures of the scheme, Konstantin Ignatov, and Ruja Ignatova, have already been indicted on charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, as well as money laundering back in May of 2019.

The Consequences Of One’s Actions

The matter is of international concern, with New Zealand having issued out warnings against the OneCoin and associated fraudulent crypto scams, as well. The lawyer of OneCoin, Mark Scott, had already been convicted on charges of fraud back in November of 2019. This occurred once it was revealed that the man laundered $400 million in funds for the scheme since the start of 2016

The individuals that have been convicted under the law of Singapore itself will face fines of up to 200,000 Singapore dollars, which stands at about USD 143,340, or up to five years in prison.

The OneCoin debacle is slowly winding down, with many victims left in its wake. As always, it’s urged that anyone that gets started in any sort of investment must remember the age-old advice that’s all too applicable in the finance industry.

If it’s too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true.