Woman who lifted lid on ‘pyramid scheme’ receives rape threats for speaking out

A British victim of an international multi-million pound cryptocurrency scam has been inundated with abuse and rape threats for sharing her story.

Glaswegian Jen McAdam, 48, lost £8,600 on the OneCoin scheme after recruiting friends and family who collectively lost £216,000.

Like many investors she mistakenly felt she was part a digital banking revolution and expected to become rich beyond all belief.

Since featuring on a new BBC podcast series on the scheme and speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire Show on BBC Two, Jen has received a barrage of abuse which has been reported to police.

One member of a OneCoin Facebook group chillingly suggested she would not be alive ‘in a few days’ and another told her ‘your day is coming soon’.

Others have made rape threats and have taunted her about her dead dad, whose inheritance money she funnelled into the scheme.

Jen told Metro.co.uk: ‘I’ve been looking over my shoulder for the last two and a half years.

‘It’s very cult like and that’s what’s terrifying and it gives me anxiety because you never know who would actually take action.’

She says the backlash demonstrates the ‘cult-like’ behaviour of people who refuse to believe they have been duped.

Jen says people made the odd comment here and there since she set up a victim support group on Facebook group in April.

But the bile hurled at her has really ramped up since she was interviewed by journalist Jamie Bartlett for his eight-part podcast series The Missing Cryptoqueen, which launched on September 17.

People saying things to her like ‘I hope you get raped’ has taken its toll on Jen’s health.

She says a guide explaining how OneCoin supporters can complain about The Missing Cryptoqueen was shared on several online forums before the series had even aired.

It takes users through the corporation’s complaints process and gives them a list of points to make in defence of the currency.

Jen said: ‘They’re trying to sabotage a BBC podcast before it even goes out. They’re saying they’re a legitimate company and this is their sort of behaviour?’

The currency never made it on to an independent exchange, it can’t be used to buy anything and its founder Ruja Ignatov has been on the run from authorities since 2017.

But people who are offered commission payments are still out there recruiting people to the scheme in the hope their investments will eventually come good.

Jen says people who enlisted to buy expensive ‘packages’ with the scheme find themselves in a ‘OneCoin bubble’ of members groups which she says are really ‘a forum of brainwashing’.

Despite ongoing criminal proceedings in the US and police raids at OneCoin’s offices in Sofia, Bulgaria, people are still buying investment packages.

Blockchain strategy consultant Jon Walsh has warned that as well as the western world, people in developing countries such as India, Bangladesh and Uganda are also finding themselves under OneCoin’s spell.

BBC spokeswoman said: ‘It’s not unusual that those subject to our investigations seek to undermine them and the significant response from OneCoin and its supporters is part of what is revealed in this podcast.

‘The series exposes for the first time the scale of the cryptocurrency scam and illuminates the complexities of the scheme.

‘It also allows victims like Jen to talk about the huge impact it has had on them and we have provided appropriate support to those who have chosen to speak on the podcast.

‘The BBC’s reputation for significant, important investigations is second to none and The Missing Cryptoqueen is an accurate, fair and thorough on-going investigation into the OneCoin scam and its missing founder.’

OneCoin rejects allegations that it is a scam and that it is not a fully functioning cryptocurrency.

Responding to the BBC podcast, the company said: ‘The series will not present any truthful information and cannot be considered objective, nor unbiased.’

The company says supporters, customers and lawyers are ‘fighting successfully against this action around the globe’.

They added: ‘We are sure that the vision of a new system on the basis of a “financial revolution” will be established’.

The Missing Cryptoqueen is available now on BBC Sounds.