Logan Paul lawsuit victory, football's scammy sponsors and sextortion linked to Southeast Asia
Scamurai weekly roundup Aug. 18-24.
This week wraps up Scamurai’s two-parter on English football’s questionable sponsors.
Part two digs into Burnley FC’s backers BK8 and 96.com, both gambling firms with murky ownership and little transparency. The former appears to be based in Cambodia’s Sihanoukville.
Alongside them, Scamurai looks at two crypto players: Socios, accused of squeezing supporters for cash by monetising fan engagement, and TokenFi, a project from a memecoin that has previously clashed with regulators in the UK and Hong Kong.
Also this week, a Texan judge has recommended throwing out a class action against Logan Paul over his CryptoZoo scam unless the plaintiffs strengthen their case. (This case is the class action against Logan Paul, not to be confused with the suit by Logan Paul against Coffeezilla for exposing him).
Paul’s lawyer took to LinkedIn to gloat.
The nauseating comments beneath this nauseating post include “congrats,” “lol” and “well now you are officially the coolest person that I know”.
Blegh.
And in Southeast Asia, scam compounds notorious for pig-butchering frauds are now being tied to child sextortion, according to new research from the International Justice Mission.
“The findings reveal a chilling potential convergence of sexual extortion of children and human trafficking, and IJM is calling for urgent action from law enforcement, tech companies, and global governments to investigate this emerging threat,” the organisation said.
Subscribe to Scamurai’s weekly newsletter and get the weekly roundup straight to your inbox.
From Scamurai
Elsewhere
Google’s “AI Overview” pointed a traveller to a fake cruise line support number, leading to $768 in fraudulent charges. Washington Post via Yahoo News
Vietnamese police have shut down Paynet Coin, a billion-dollar crypto Ponzi that lured investors with fake U.S. ties and MLM promises. Cointelegraph
A U.S. court has ordered EminiFX founder Eddy Alexandre to repay $228m after running a Ponzi that duped 25,000 investors with false trading claims. Courthouse News
Wired and Business Insider have removed articles from a supposed freelancer that was later revealed to be an AI fabrication with unverifiable sources. Press Gazette
Kanye West’s hastily launched YZY token lost 70% in hours after he hyped it on Twitter, leaving fans holding the bag. DL News
A crypto venture tied to Donald Trump’s business partner is facing SEC allegations of selling unregistered securities. The Information
Taiwanese prosecutors have charged six people in the BitShine crypto fraud, which siphoned $30m from 300 victims. The Block
Finally, keep an eye out for Scamurai’s upcoming podcast with Fraser Edwards of Cheqd, where we unpack the controversy around the UK’s Online Safety Act and why a law sold as child protection has become so divisive.
As always, if you have story ideas, tips, comments, complaints or anything else, please get in touch.
Cheers,
Callan Quinn
callan@scamurai.io
