A New York federal court entered a default judgment requiring NanoBit Limited and five related defendants to pay more than $5.5 million. The SEC alleged that the fake trading platform used social media and WhatsApp to gain investors’ trust and divert their funds.
A New York federal court entered a default judgment requiring NanoBit Limited and five related defendants to pay more than $5.5 million. The SEC alleged that the fake trading platform used social media and WhatsApp to gain investors’ trust and divert their funds.
The case highlights how fraudsters can combine social media outreach, messaging groups and false claims of regulatory status to make sham crypto services appear credible. According to the SEC, participants posed as financial professionals in WhatsApp groups and promoted purported investment opportunities after gaining victims’ trust.
A federal court in New York has entered a final default judgment against NanoBit Limited, three other entities and two individuals, ordering them to pay a combined $5,518,902. The civil case arose from SEC allegations that the defendants operated a fake crypto asset trading platform as part of a relationship investment scam.
The case highlights how fraudsters can combine social media outreach, messaging groups and false claims of regulatory status to make sham crypto services appear credible. According to the SEC, participants posed as financial professionals in WhatsApp groups and promoted purported investment opportunities after gaining victims’ trust.
The SEC alleged that the scheme operated from at least September 2023 through June 2024. NanoBit also allegedly claimed that an affiliate, NanobitUS Securities, was registered with the SEC as a broker, while supposed financial professionals promoted fake initial coin offerings promising substantial returns.
No transactions took place on the NanoBit platform, according to the regulator’s complaint. Instead, scheme participants allegedly transferred more than $2 million to bank accounts in Hong Kong and misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars in crypto assets.
The judgment permanently bars the defendants from violating key antifraud provisions of federal securities law. The monetary orders include disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties, with NanoBit Limited ordered to pay about $1.8 million and three related companies each assessed penalties of roughly $1.18 million.
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