Five Of The Biggest Uncaught Crypto Scams In History
Even with blockchain’s transparent nature, crypto crime continues to challenge authorities worldwide. Many of these scammers have exploited weak regulations, anonymous networks, and global jurisdiction gaps to hide their tracks.
Go Back
🕒 11:05 AM
📅 Oct 30, 2025
✍️ By chyneyz
The cryptocurrency world, while full of innovation and opportunity, has also been a playground for fraudsters and hackers. Billions of dollars have been stolen through rug pulls, Ponzi schemes, and exchange hacks, yet some of the masterminds behind these crimes have managed to vanish without a trace. Despite global investigations and improved blockchain tracking tools, a number of high-profile crypto scammers remain unidentified or at large. Here are five of the biggest crypto scammers who have never been caught.
1. The Thodex Exchange Disappearance (Turkey)
In 2021, Turkish crypto exchange Thodex suddenly halted trading, locking over 400,000 users out of their accounts and disappearing with more than $2 billion in crypto assets. Although the exchange’s CEO, Faruk Fatih Özer, was accused of orchestrating the exit scam, a large part of the stolen funds and possibly several accomplices have never been located. Many of the wallets used in the theft remain untraced to this day.
2. The Missing Mt. Gox Hackers
Back in 2014, Mt. Gox was the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, handling 70% of global BTC trades. That changed when 850,000 BTC (worth billions today) disappeared in one of crypto’s earliest and most infamous hacks. While some suspects have been identified, the real masterminds behind the theft have never been caught, and a huge portion of the missing coins remain unaccounted for, likely circulating in hidden wallets across the blockchain.
3. The OneCoin Mystery - Ruja Ignatova (“Cryptoqueen”)
No list of crypto scammers is complete without Ruja Ignatova, the self-proclaimed “Cryptoqueen.” She founded OneCoin, a fake cryptocurrency that turned out to be a global Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors of over $4 billion. In 2017, she boarded a flight from Bulgaria to Greece and vanished completely. Despite being placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, Ruja has never been found, making her one of the most elusive figures in crypto crime.
4. The DAO Hacker (Ethereum 2016)
In 2016, the DAO hack shook the Ethereum network to its core. A hacker exploited a vulnerability in the DAO smart contract and drained around $60 million worth of ETH. The incident led to Ethereum’s controversial hard fork, creating the split between Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). To this day, the identity of the DAO hacker remains unknown, despite years of on-chain analysis and tracing efforts.
5. The Bitfinex Hackers Who Outsmarted the System
In 2016, crypto exchange Bitfinex suffered a massive hack that led to the theft of 120,000 BTC. Although U.S. authorities later arrested a New York couple accused of laundering part of the stolen funds, the original hackers behind the breach were never caught. Many experts believe that the couple were not the actual attackers, but only used to move a portion of the funds through different wallets and mixers.
As technology evolves, so does crypto fraud and until proper global cooperation and forensic blockchain tools improve further, some of the world’s biggest crypto criminals may remain free for years to come.