The Missing Cryptoqueen by Jamie Bartlett

Author:Jamie Bartlett [BARTLETT, JAMIE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2022-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

WELL-SPOKEN PROFESSIONALS

Scammers do not operate in a vacuum. They analyze social trends and spot opportunities to look credible. Since 2010, the world’s information output has grown exponentially, and everyone is now bombarded with endless data, graphs, claims and counterclaims. Some of it is from established experts but much of it is not. Working out who to trust is tiring and confusing, especially in novel industries like cryptocurrency where there are no established authorities or agreed-upon qualifications. Ruja took advantage of the uncertainty.1

In the summer of 2015, around the time OneCoin released its €12,500 Premium Trader package, and the company topped €1 billion in revenue, Ruja—dressed all in black and wearing red lipstick—appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine under the headline “A Cryptocurrency with Bulgarian Origin.” Over a two-page spread, Ruja talked about the future of finance and the coming crypto revolution. Forbes is one of the world’s most famous business magazines and for decades aspiring entrepreneurs have dreamt of seeing their face gazing out from its cover in newsstands in New York, London and Tokyo. Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Elon Musk have all made it. When the July 2015 edition was published, OneCoin’s social media accounts lit up: “In her interview for the prestigious magazine Forbes,” read one post, “our founder Dr. Ruja introduces OneCoin.”

The impact was immediate. Promoters were sent copies to distribute at events. Rubies and Sapphires shared the article with uncertain relatives. In Uganda, wannabe investors were shown photos of the famous cover in seminars and workshops. For anyone confused by the tech (which was nearly everyone), it was a convenient substitute for careful analysis: who needed to understand the intricacies of the blockchain or the mining process when the boss was a Forbes cover star?

But Ruja wasn’t the Forbes cover star at all. Via Forbes’ specialized PR firm “Brand Voice,” she’d purchased three pages inside the Bulgarian edition of the magazine and designed an advert that looked indistinguishable from the journalistic content, including a mock-up cover page. (The real cover that month was in fact pop icon Katy Perry, under the strapline “Pop’s Top Export.”) Far from being a Forbes front cover star to rival Zuckerberg or Elon, Ruja had paid a few thousand Euros for a simulation. The only way to figure this out at all was to be fluent in Bulgarian and spot the small words “Brand Voice from OneCoin” next to Ruja’s power pose, which indicated it was sponsored content. The vast majority of OneCoin investors could not place Bulgaria on a map, much less speak the language. Sofia HQ purchased hundreds of copies, ripped off the real front cover, and started sending the phoney Forbes around the world.

Ruja repeated the clever trick a few months later with an even more esteemed business publication, The Economist. In November 2015, she was the keynote speaker at a large conference hosted by the magazine in central Sofia, which was attended by local bigwigs, including the Bulgarian president Rosen Plevneliev. The Economist in London

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