Scammers appear to have stolen $2 million in cryptocurrency after carrying out a fake ICO, CNBC reported.
According to the report, the scammers used a fake profile on LinkedIn and stole pictures from another Instagram account to create a fake person — and were then able to get more than 1,000 investors to invest in Giza, its so-called ICO project.
Investors told CNBC they thought the project was legitimate until warning signs began to appear, including a falling out with the company's sole supplier, a lack of correspondence from its supposed founders, and failed attempts to recoup the lost funds.
The ICO was for a supposed start-up called Giza, which claimed to be developing a super-secure device that would allow people to store cryptocurrencies. It carried out its ICO in January and drew investors for several weeks after.
"Everything was fine, until that company that was meant to develop their device came out on the internet and said that Giza has cut ties, and it seems to be a scam and they might not be developing anything. Then things started looking fishy," an investor named Chris told CNBC