3 Brazilian Footballers Reported To Be Scammed in Crypto

Three Brazilian soccers claimed that they suffered a crypto scam worth millions of dollars, local sports media reported. 

All of Nottingham Forest midfielder Gustavo Scarpa, his former teammate Mayke at Sao Paulo club Palmeiras, and Willian Bigode of Rio de Janeiro club Fluminense alleged that they had lost millions of dollars to a crypto company called Xland following being promised that they will get their money back plus up to five percent a month. 

“I’ve always seen stupid people fall victim to pyramid schemes and scams. Finding myself in a situation like that is horrible,” Scarpa, 29, said in a WhatsApp audio message, according to France24. 

Scarpa pointed out that he invested $1.2 million (6.3 million reais) in Xland. Mayke said he invested around $762,000 (four million reais).

Bigode, a former Palmeiras teammate who persuaded Scarpa and Mayke to invest in Xland, said he has also suffered a crypto scam and did not get his money back, which is estimated at 17.5 million reais. 

However, the Brazilian-based firm noted that it would pay back its clients, claiming it had suffered from large losses following the collapse of FTX in November 2022. 

Earlier on Tuesday, cybercriminals have stolen almost $200 million in cryptocurrencies from crypto lending platform Euler Finance, according to the Decrypt website. 

Crypto security firm BlockSec reported the attack, which is considered the 26th-largest crypto theft ever. 

Blockchain security company PeckShield said that Euler Finance suffered an exploit due to a flurry of transactions on Ethereum that led to the loss of $197 million from the project. 

he crypto industry lost more than $3.94 billion in 2022, a report by Immunefi, Web3’s leading bug bounty platform, revealed. 

According to Immunefi’s Crypto Losses in 2022 Report, hacks were the main reason for these losses, accounting for 95.6%, while rug pulls, scams, and fraud represented only 4.4% of the total losses. Because of hacks, the crypto industry lost over $3.77 billion in 2022 in 134 specific incidents, according to Coin Telegraph.