Four countries - Italy, Austria, Romania, and Slovakia - have taken joint action to arrest 22 individuals on suspicion of participating in a fraud scheme involving the EU's post-coronavirus recovery fund. The operation resulted in the seizure of over 600 million euros in assets, including Lamborghini and Porsche sports cars, Rolex watches, Cartier jewelry, and virtual currency.

The public security organs of Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, have solved a national case involving ethnic asset thawing, involving more than 10,000 victims in 29 provinces and cities across the country, after two years of investigation. According to the police officers of the special case team, the fraudsters fabricated false projects such as "Shengshi Zhonghua Digital Currency" to deceive victims into purchasing so-called "digital currency membership cards" under the guise of investment, claiming that "Shengshi Zhonghua has already connected to the H5 port of the central bank." At present, the police have arrested 178 criminal suspects and the amount involved is 200 million yuan.

Ledger officials have warned about ongoing phishing and fraud. Ledger only has two genuine social media accounts, @ledger and @ledger_support. The rest are fake accounts, and anyone asking for your 24-word recovery phrase is a criminal.

China Taiwan's "Dodo Blind Box" is involved in virtual currency fraud of nearly 10 million new Taiwan dollars. The platform uses the virtual currency Tether, with each blind box costing at least 300 Tether and the most expensive being 2000 Tether. After people grab the blind box, the platform immediately adds 3% and then sells it on the platform. Currently, at least 8 people have been deceived, with the amount involved reaching over 9 million new Taiwan dollars.

Jinse Finance reported that the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a reminder to Chinese citizens through the official WeChat account "Consular Express" of the Consulate General in Osaka to be cautious of telecommunications fraud related to online dating. It was pointed out that Chinese citizens in the jurisdiction of the Consulate General in Osaka have recently been repeatedly victims of telecommunications fraud related to online dating. The fraudsters approach the victims under the guise of online dating, gain their trust, and then lure them to invest large amounts of money into so-called "virtual currency trading platforms", "investment websites", or even online gambling platforms. The victims are encouraged to invest in virtual currencies such as "Bitcoin" and deliberately given high returns in the initial investment phase to gain their trust, and then disappear after inducing the victims to invest large amounts.

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has issued a warning about suspected fraud involving crypto entities Hong Kong Digital Research Institute and BitCuped. The SFC has blocked access to the websites of both companies and issued cease and desist letters to their operators. The regulator suspects HongKongDAO of disseminating false and misleading information about itself and its business, which could encourage individuals to invest in the HKD token believing its services were properly licensed and legitimate.

Lloyds, a mainstream retail and commercial bank in the UK, has issued an "urgent warning" about the growing threat of cryptocurrency fraud. The UK bank points out that cryptocurrency investment fraud has increased by 23% this year, with victims losing an average of £10,741 ($13,343), more than any other type of consumer fraud. The bank stated: "Cryptocurrency is a high-risk asset category and is essentially unregulated, making it an attractive field for fraudsters to exploit. If there is a problem, you are unlikely to get your money back."

Crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against the parents of its founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing them of fraudulently transferring and misappropriating millions of dollars. The lawsuit seeks damages, the return of any property or payments made to the parents by FTX, and punitive damages resulting from their "conscious, willful, wanton, and malicious conduct."

Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang held a press conference today (18th) to respond to the suspected fraud incident of the virtual asset trading platform JPEX. He revealed that he has received about 30 requests for help from victims, and the amounts lost by each person are different, with some being six-digit numbers and some being seven-digit numbers. The total amount involved is estimated to be over 100 million Hong Kong dollars.

Three celebrity endorsers of FTX, including NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence, have agreed to settle allegations that they helped defraud investors who lost billions of dollars in the collapse of FTX. Other celebrity supporters of FTX, including Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Shaquille O’Neal, and Larry David, have also been sued.