Cryptocurrencies, the first crash of an Italian: thousands scammed

The case of the Italian company that stole millions of euros in the cryptocurrency sector, thousands scammed after the collapse of New Financial Technology

August 14, 2022 22:00

Source: iStock Italian Cryptocurrency Scam

If the investigators confirm it, it would be a real multi-million dollar scam – the first in the cryptocurrency sector in Italy – organized by a company known as New Financial Technology, which stole millions of euros from its investors after declaring a crash a few days ago. It is estimated that about 6,000 savers were scammed, who invested between 10,000 and 300,000 euros. The victims, who deposited their life savings in search of self-help, came mainly from the regions of Lazio, Veneto, Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna.

New Financial Technology, what is known about the first Italian cryptocurrency company that declared a crash

Founded in Silea, Treviso, and headquartered in London, New Financial Technology (NFT) has promised gains of up to 10% on invested capital through arbitrage transactions on the cryptocurrency market. The minimum deposit required was 10,000 euros and coupons were issued monthly. It must be said that, in reality, this type of investment model is used by numerous legitimate companies, which, through special algorithms, exploit the market misalignments on the various exchanges to profit from them (here to learn more).

In this case, however, the NFT seems to have exploited the classic Ponzi system (here we explain in detail how it works), thus scamming thousands of people. The estimates are still inaccurate and to be verified, but from what emerged from the first rumors, New Financial Technology would have managed to pocket between 40 and 100 million before declaring the financial crash.

New Financial Technology declares bankruptcy: the cryptocurrency company is accused of fraud

Active for four years, not many details of the company are yet known, but the legal representative of New Financial Technology initially avoided any kind of recourse to a pyramid scheme. Disappointed and angry investors, however, do not think so. Some even believe that real investments were never made but that they would have been paid (and so deluded that they had earned thanks to cryptocurrencies) with coupons financed through the payments of newcomers, just like a real self-respecting Ponzi scheme.

Along with the company, the website and the funds raised, two of the three founders have also disappeared, of which there is no trace (although it is said that at the moment they are in Dubai), while the third would be a lawyer from Rome – the same one who represents the company -, still at large. The first investigations, however, do not exclude that he too may be a victim of the scam.

While his associates were spotted in Switzerland, where they tried to conclude several deals (without success it seems), he remained in Italy and told reporters: "I am investigating. At the moment it is not known where the money is because I do not have access to customer portfolios. We are investigating, but at the moment I cannot say anything else. I believe that there is some non-compliant behaviour. [...] Let's clarify immediately what I have read around these days, I am not one of the co-founders. I came in later and I don't take care of the technical part. My role was only to give the company an international legal connotation to be able to work in this sector. I am the legal part and now also the administrative part".