logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2021
27m 37s

The fake bitcoin mine

Bbc World Service
About this episode

With crypto currencies – like Bitcoin and Troon - booming there’s never been a better time to mine for crypto online. Mines in this context describe hundreds of computers that solve complex mathematical puzzles to produce cryptocurrency. And with many wanting to jump onto the crypto band wagon mines are springing up across the world - even fake ones. For Assignment, James Clayton speaks to two Indian victims of a crypto scam - who thought they were investing in a mine, which in fact did not exist. He looks at how one of his own BBC reports was used by the scammers as part of the deception. And he investigates how scammers were able to extract money from victims with seeming impunity. With India close to banning crypto currency currencies all together - are crypto scams ruining the Bitcoin dream?

Reporter: James Clayton Producer: Regan Morris Editor: Bridget Harney

(Image: Hacker in front of a computer. Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin)

Up next
Today
Adeju Thompson: Taking fashion label Lagos Space Programme to the world
Adeju Thompson, the founder and creative director behind the Nigerian fashion label Lagos Space Programme, attempts to establish the label on the global fashion scene. Lagos Space Programme blends Yoruba heritage (notably Adire dyeing) with queer and futurist aesthetics, taking i ... Show More
26m 29s
Yesterday
Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary presents, Hold Fast!
The incredible true story of how The Avontuur was locked down at sea for 188 days during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 15 people on board. The journey begins for ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi when she accepts a last-minute job aboard the sailing cargo ship The Avontuur. She tells the ... Show More
24m 55s
Aug 23
Mud wrestling and tent pegging: Africa’s unusual sports
We take a look at some of the more unusual sports practiced on the African continent. Kelvin Kimathi recently travelled to Uganda where a muddy version of entertainment wrestling is becoming increasingly popular. Marcia Veiga discovered Capoeira Angola whilst finding a way to con ... Show More
26m 21s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2023
Cryptocurrency Explained
The world of cryptocurrency can be confusing. There’s no tangible money and no clunky coins. Instead we hear about things like Ethereum, Bitcoin and Dogecoin. Crypto has been in the spotlight this month after Sam Bankman-Fried (the ‘Crypto King’) was found guilty of fraud and mon ... Show More
15m 23s
Apr 2022
The Crypto King
Sara and Danny are back this week to discuss the bizarre story of Gerald Cotten that still has people searching for answers to this day. They kick things off with his early life and the founding of his crypto exchange Quadriga that quickly became the biggest cryptocurrency market ... Show More
52m 27s
Jan 2023
The Bitcoin Bamboozle | 34
When a major cryptocurrency exchange gets hacked in the summer of 2016, billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin go missing. The stolen crypto sits unspent for months, and the hack seems all but impossible to trace… until two surprisingly savvy federal agents begin investigating on t ... Show More
42m 44s
Sep 2023
How Crypto Scammed The World
In October 2008, a paper titled ‘Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System’ was published, announcing the creation of one of the world’s first cryptocurrencies. This paper was written by Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. Nakamoto then created a message board called ... Show More
18m 3s
Jun 2023
The Winklevoss twins on Bitcoin and investing in crypto
In this special episode of Pocketful of Dirhams, we talk to the billionaire twin brothers who famously sued Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea for Facebook. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, former Olympic rowers and founders of crypto exchange Gemini ... Show More
29m 30s
Aug 2023
Worldcoin’s utopian aims, dystopian fears
A metallic orb scans your iris and turns it into a numeric code, providing a unique ID that confirms you as human. This is the process people in dozens of countries are undergoing for Worldcoin, a new cryptocurrency project that’s handing out free tokens and even local currency i ... Show More
24m 33s
Feb 2018
Operation Shadow Web rolls up carding gang. Fancy Bear sightings. DPRK buying zero-days? Cryptojacking ICS. Huawei, ZTE get Congressional razzing. Jita scams.
In today's podcast we hear that Operation Shadow Web has tken down the Infraud criminal carding gang. Two more Fancy Bear sightings—one in voter databases, one in Defense contractor emails. North Korea may have purchased its Flash Player zero-day from a third-party. Cryptojacking ... Show More
19m 45s
Jul 2022
The Bitcoin VC Who Just Infuriated The Bitcoin World
If you've ever interacted with hardcore Bitcoin maximalists you might find some of them, at least, to be... abrasive. And it's not just no-coiners who are the target of their scorn. The real enemies are ex-maxis, who are viewed as apostates. Nic Carter, a co-founder and GP at the ... Show More
1h 1m
Jul 2022
The Great Bitcoin Crash
To some, Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies are the future of finance, deregulated and free from the problems of the existing financial others. To critics, they're little more than a bad investment or an outright ponzi scheme. But what happens when the coins begin to crash? In ... Show More
55m 48s