Bitcoin Ponzi Scammer Who Stole 29,000BTC, Arrested In Brazil

Bitcoin ponzi scammer Johann Steynberg was arrested in Brazil a few days ago after disappearing with 29,000 BTC so let’s find out more in today’s bitcoin scam news.

Steynberg is a South African known for running the multi-million dollar Ponzi Scheme platform Mirror Trading International and was recently arrested in Brazil. This was another large-scale arrest for the country after the arrest of Claudio Oliveira of the Bitcoin Banco group who disappeared with 7000 BTC from his investors in 2019. The Bitcoin ponzi scammer managed to defraud thousands of people worldwide after creating a Ponzi scheme and promising high returns of up to 10% and according to the reports, more than 29,000 BTC were stolen by his company.

Johan Steynberg was arrested in the Goiania capital of Goias and according to the official reports from the governemnt, the arrest was made upon coordination between local forces, Interpol, and the Brazillian Federal Police. The Brazilian law enforcement received information that Steynberg was in the country after he escaped from South Africa in 2020 following the crash of the Mirror Trading International platform. According to the Commander of the Group of Rapid Interventions, the intelligence work lasted about a month and after that, the police managed to find Steynberg seizing several fake identities, computers, notes, and credit cards:

” Our police officers began to make a thorough search of the suspect and after an intense work carried out for about a month, it was possible to identify and approach the subject … The Federal Police and Interpol [unit in Brasília] were already aware of our investigation. So we made the approach, the subject was presented to the Superintendence of the PF for the fulfillment of the international arrest warrant and prosecution for the crime of forgery.”

The criminal was arrested on charges of the use of fake documentation. Mirror Trading International marketed itself as an investment platform that promised high returns as the users invested more money. The platform was founded in 2019 in South Africa and promised returns of about 10% per month. It had more than 170,000 customers with over 1 billion dollars in assets under management. When the customers started reporting that the company blocked their balances, authorities started an investigation but Steynberg disappeared shortly.