Daily fraud update: 18th October

Hello and welcome to your update on the latest news in the cryptocurrency and foreign exchange fraud spheres.

South African man sentenced over forex fraud

A man from South Africa has been sent to prison for 15 years over his role in a foreign exchange scam.

David Wilmot, who is 47-years-old and is from Sunridge Park in Port Elizabeth, was told last week that he would go to prison after pleading guilty to over 150 counts of fraud.

He was also convicted of breaking the Exchange Control Act, and of breaking the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act.

He was convicted of money laundering as well.

The crimes happened over the course of a five year period from January 2010 to June 2015.

Wilmot told his clients that their cash would be invested in the forex markets.

However, the scheme turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.

While Wilmot received 23.2m South African rand in total from his investors, he only actually moved 2.4m rand into the forex trading accounts – meaning he pocketed around 90% of the incoming cash.

Ultimately, liquidators were left unable to locate where the funds had gone.

According to press reports, Wilmot also produced false paperwork when asked by investors in an attempt to preventing them from suspecting what may be really happening.

Broadway tickets firm sees anti-fraud potential of blockchain

A firm which sells tickets on New York’s iconic Broadway has announced that it will work alongside IBM to combat fraud.

The Shubert Organisation, which is the biggest ticket firm on Broadway, said that it would use IBM software to defend itself against the risk of scam tickets.

It will work alongside True Tickets to deliver the package using the Telecharge system, which is a ticketing service used by Shubert.

It will also apply to other product streams of the Shubert Organisation, including Broadway Inbound – the company’s bulk buy discount service.

It is believed that the work will begin next year, suggesting a fast turnaround time for the partnership.

At present, scam tickets cause a significant problem for Broadway and other theatre districts around the world.

Some locations, such as London’s West End, have begun implementing strict ID checks at smash-hit shows such as Hamilton.

However, blockchain offers the possibility for almost fool-proof systems as well as additional transparency for sellers and buyers.

According to Matt Zarracina, who runs True Tickets, the new blockchain system allows for some defence against what he called the problems of the “multichannel marketplace”.

“At the end of the day, we aim to help our clients develop more meaningful relationships with their patrons”, he said.

“This pilot affords us the opportunity to do exactly that in a massive multichannel marketplace.”

The work came about as a result of True Tickets’ participation in a scheme called the Broadway Tech Accelerator, which aimed to find new technology solutions to some of the most pressing problems in the theatre and entertainment worlds.

Chris Lee

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