Recently, old news about Ружа Игнатова has resurfaced, and this person's story is truly one of the craziest scams in crypto history.

In short, this woman founded OneCoin in 2014, claiming to be the ultimate Bitcoin killer. She came from a good background, holding a PhD in international law, and even claimed to have worked at McKinsey. Using these credentials, she fooled investors in over 100 countries worldwide. The craziest part is that she publicly declared that no one would be talking about Bitcoin in two years. And what happened? She became one of the most notorious scammers in the crypto world.

The scale of the scam operated by Ружа Игнатова was outrageous. From 2014 until her disappearance, OneCoin siphoned off at least $4 billion, with some estimates reaching as high as £12.9 billion. She used fake blockchain promises and exaggerated returns to swindle thousands of people out of their life savings. In October 2017, she suddenly disappeared from a flight from Sofia to Athens and vanished without a trace.

What makes this case interesting is that Ружа Игнатова has still not been caught. The FBI listed her as one of the Top Ten Most Wanted in 2022, offering a $5 million reward. Europol is also searching for her, although their bounty is only £4,100, which has been widely mocked. Some speculate she’s hiding in Russia or Greece using a fake passport, or even that she may have undergone plastic surgery. There are darker theories suggesting she might have been murdered by those protecting her.

The most ironic part is that even after the scam was fully exposed, OneCoin continued to scam victims in Africa and Latin America, creating new victims. This case also inspired a BBC podcast documentary and several TV adaptations.

The name Ruza Ignatova now symbolizes a warning: even highly educated, well-connected people can be the most cunning scammers. That’s why I’m extremely cautious about any new projects I come across. I generally avoid unregistered projects, those without transparent on-chain data, or ones that promise excessive returns. Trading mainstream assets on reputable platforms like Gate allows me to see real-time data and market consensus, making the risks much more manageable.