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She Was Sucked Into a Cult-Like Crypto Scam. Now She's Fighting Back. On this episode of "Dirty Money," guest Jen McAdam tells her personal and harrowing story of getting scammed by Ruja Plamenova, the notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen.

By Dan Bova

Key Takeaways

  • McAdam inherited her coal miner father's life savings (6:26)
  • She invested all of her savings in OneCoin global cryptocurrency after being impressed by a webinar (9:06)
  • Like millions of others, she's impressed by the founder and Crypto Queen, Dr. Ruja Ignatova (12:00)
  • She realized she'd been conned, and over $200k has disappeared (28:00)
  • Despite terrifying attempts to shut down both her and her growing support groups, she fought tirelessly for justice for herself (42:00)

"If you don't understand the intricacies of how cryptocurrency works, I beg you not to invest in it."

So says Jen McAdam, a Scottish coal miner's daughter, who was one of the countless victims of the insidious OneCoin global cryptocurrency scam. As Jen explains in this week's episode of Dirty Money, she invested her entire inheritance only to watch it disappear.

But rather than staying silent out of embarrassment, Jen decided to fight back and successfully mustered thousands of victims from around the world to join her. She's written a book on the experience called DEVIL'S COIN: My Battle to Take Down the Notorious OneCoin Cryptoqueen, and she works full-time through her online Victims' Support Group to fight for retribution.

Despite terrifying threats against her and members of her growing support groups, Jen says she will never give up the fight to help the millions who lost everything, in some cases even their lives. Jen's story is heartbreaking, but her willingness to be open about her financial and emotional struggles, as well as her ceaseless desire to prevent others from falling victim to crypto schemes is truly inspiring.

Thanks as always for listening. Please leave a review, rating and remember to subscribe to us on your favorite platform.

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About Dirty Money

Dirty Money is a new podcast series from Entrepreneur Media telling the tales of legendary scammers, con artists, and barely-legal lowlifes who stop at nothing to bilk their marks of millions. Hosted by Entrepreneur editors Dan Bova and Jon Small, the podcast takes a deep dive into the deviants behind the deeds.

Related: 'The Most Hated Man in America' Where Is Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli Now?

Dan Bova

Entrepreneur Staff

VP of Special Projects

Dan Bova is the VP of Special Projects at Entrepreneur.com. He previously worked at Jimmy Kimmel Live, Maxim, and Spy magazine. His latest books for kids include This Day in History, Car and Driver's Trivia ZoneRoad & Track Crew's Big & Fast Cars, The Big Little Book of Awesome Stuff, and Wendell the Werewolf

Read his humor column This Should Be Fun if you want to feel better about yourself.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

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