I noticed that in Austria, one of the largest cryptocurrency fraud trials in the country's history has just concluded, and the verdict is quite severe. A regional court sentenced five individuals involved in the EXW-Token scam to significant prison terms after a year-long trial with 60 days of hearings.

Here's where things get interesting. The EXW wallet, launched in 2019, turned out to be an elaborate Ponzi scheme with an MLM structure that deceived at least 40,000 investors for a total of 20 million euros. The accused promised daily returns between 0.1% and 0.32%, obviously without any real basis. Meanwhile, the same scammers were promoting other initiatives under the EXW brand, including a real estate company and a car rental service.

Among those convicted were Benjamin Herzog and Pirmin Troger, two of the co-founders of the EXW wallet. Both had already pleaded guilty in September 2023 and received five-year sentences each. Pirmin Troger, along with the other four individuals, is now facing further legal proceedings, with two of them receiving five years in prison, another two 30 months (with 21 months suspended), and one a suspended 18-month sentence. The third co-founder, Manuel Batista, remains at large.

What’s truly striking is how they used the stolen funds. Completely extravagant lifestyle: luxury cars, private jets, lavish parties in Dubai’s exclusive clubs. They decorated their homes with opulent objects, including a villa with a shark tank and shoeboxes full of cash. The scheme was based in Dubai, but they transferred part of the money to Austria.

The most interesting part is that the accused tried to claim they wanted to manage legitimate investment projects and that things simply got out of hand. The court completely rejected this theory, stating that the fraud was planned from the start, with no real profit in mind.

But here’s the point: this is not an isolated case. Investment frauds involving cryptocurrencies have become extremely widespread. Scammers exploit the allure of high returns and the complexity of blockchain to deceive people. In 2023 alone, crypto-related scams and frauds caused losses exceeding $5.6 billion, a 45% increase from the previous year, according to the FBI. In October, a trial was initiated in France involving 20 individuals in a $30 million scam. An Indian citizen was sentenced to five years for stealing over $20 million by falsifying an exchange. Even in the United States, a court ordered a Ponzi scheme promoter to pay over $3.6 million in restitution and serve 240 months in prison. In Ireland, over 45% of investment fraud cases involve cryptocurrencies.

Despite the severity of these sentences, scammers do not seem to slow down. Regulatory authorities worldwide are stepping up actions, but the phenomenon continues to grow. The case of Pirmin Troger and the others involved in the EXW scam is a clear example of how even seemingly sophisticated schemes are eventually uncovered and punished, but the number of victims keeps increasing.