Crypto scams remain an industry-wide problem.

Soccer legends and celebrities caught promoting the OmegaPro fraud.

Victims seek to recover their losses.

According to Chainalysis, illicit activity in the crypto space may have dropped from $20.9 billion in H2 2023 to $16.7 billion in H1 2024, but crypto scams and hacks remain a persistent threat. One of the most notorious recent cases is the OmegaPro crypto scam.

OmegaPro rose to prominence through endorsements from famous soccer players and celebrities, luring victims with promises of huge returns. However, the platform collapsed in 2023 after attracting regulatory scrutiny, leaving investors with massive losses and tarnishing the reputations of those associated with it.

Crypto Scam Victims Turn to Celebrity Promoters

After OmegaPro went dark in 2023, victims of the crypto scam have shifted their focus to the celebrities who promoted the platform in hopes of recovering their losses. Sponsored

Lawyer Lars Olofsson, representing several hundred victims, revealed that a class action lawsuit will be filed in London against all celebrities involved. These include soccer stars like Vinícius Junior, Ronaldinho, Luis Figo, Iker Casillas, and Roberto Carlos, along with other big names like Steven Seagal and Floyd Mayweather.

The scam is believed to have swindled victims out of €3 billion ($3.23 billion), with affected individuals hailing from countries like France, Spain, Belgium, Colombia, and Nigeria.

OmegaPro’s scheme resembled the notorious Bitconnect scam, where users earned higher rewards by recruiting new members. This pyramid-like structure depended on grassroots word-of-mouth promotion, significantly boosted by celebrity endorsements.

Dubai’s Involvement

While victims pursue compensation from the soccer stars and celebrities who promoted the crypto scam, some of these icons claimed they were recruited by the Dubai Sports Council.

Commenting on this turn of events, fraud expert Romain Muller highlighted how the involvement of Dubai authorities lent an air of legitimacy to OmegaPro.

Muller stated that the company’s logo was projected onto prominent landmarks like the Burj Khalifa and the Dubai Eye, while Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attended several promotional events, further enhancing the platform’s credibility.

French Regulator Sent Warning

Regulators Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) had warned about OmegaPro as early as May 2022, stating the platform was not authorized to operate in France. Despite the warning, the scam continued to lure victims globally with false promises of high returns.

In January 2024, French law firm Beaubourg Avocats, representing 1,500 French and international victims, filed a class action lawsuit against OmegaPro after the company’s team vanished.

elDiario reported that OmegaPro founders Robert Velghe and Andreas Szakacs, who had changed their names, were arrested in Istanbul over the summer. Latin American manager Juan Carlos Reynoso was detained in March 2023, but two other founders remain at large.

On the Flipside

Celebrity crypto endorsements have become a red flag.

The international spread of victims complicates jurisdictional actions.

Although OmegaPro‘s website is offline, a clone version is live.

Why This Matters

The OmegaPro crypto scam shows how pyramid schemes are evolving to exploit modern technology and trust in public figures.

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