Image: Sergey Strashevskiy
A Belarusian crypto advocate has allegedly squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars of his investors’ money at casinos in Minsk, law enforcement claims.
The Belarusian media outlet Onliner reported that the Investigative Committee of Belarus has charged an unnamed 30-year-old male Minsk resident with “fraud on an especially large scale.”
The committee explained that the man posed as a wealthy crypto trader. He then offered Belarusian citizens the opportunity to invest in “crypto projects.”
He told them that they were guaranteed to make “break-even returns on their investment.” However, the agency said, the man instead “gambled away all the money he had raised at casinos.”
Belarusian Crypto Scam Duped Investors Out of $293K
Officials think the accused “defrauded at least 10 people out of a total of over 1 million Belarusian rubles ($293,387).”
Investigators said that in December 2024, the accused contacted a 37-year-old woman via an online forum. He told her that his investment project “was risk-free and was guaranteed to make profits.”
He began by making regular payments to the investor. However, he later claimed that the project was a hoax. Investigators say that he claimed that he had also fallen victim to a scam, and that his (and the woman’s) money was lost.
He reportedly then promised to return all of the lost money if the woman continued to place her trust in him. The committee said that the woman did not suspect fraud and “continued investing.” However, the man was actually spending the money she gave him “at a casino,” investigators added.
When his debt grew larger, the accused reportedly “realized he couldn’t repay the money honestly and found a new victim.” His next target was allegedly a 26-year-old man, whom he reportedly duped with talk of a project that utilized Bitcoin (BTC).
Central Minsk, Belarus. (Hanna Zelenko [CC BY-SA 3.0])
Law Enforcers Search for More Victims
The committee said that during its interrogation, the accused “admitted that he understood he would not be able to return the money.” Instead, he hoped to win money during his casino visits.
While the accused did spend some of his own money on cryptocurrency investments, most of these also failed to generate any profits. Investigators say he also “convinced his girlfriend to take out a loan.” He then reportedly used this to pay some investors “dividends.”
The committee said its criminal investigation into the case was ongoing, as it continues its search for other “victims.” It concluded by calling on the public to come forward with information if they had also had any contact with the man or his investment promises.
Last month, courts revealed that the Belarusian operator Victoria Cherry had declared bankruptcy. The operator ran a popular casino in downtown Minsk.