In the Russian nesting doll of investment scams, a New York man admitted to defrauding investors by impersonating influencers who, in turn, touted crypto investments.
The U.S. attorney’s office for Maryland announced that Noman Saleem pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a scheme that involved posing as popular crypto influencers to promote purported crypto investments with guaranteed returns.
According to court filings, starting in 2020, Saleem created handles on the Telegram messaging app associated with popular influencers — including The Dollar Vigilante and BitBoy — using both public channels and subscription channels he created to communicate with investors.
After investors sent crypto to Saleem to participate in the purported investments, he stopped communicating with them and took their crypto, worth approximately US$1.8 million.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3, 2026.
As part of the plea, he agreed to a forfeiture order for US$1.8 million and a restitution order for US$785,270.