How a Journalist Went From Exposing Mexican Cartels to Losing His Crypto Life Savings

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As an analyst with a background in journalism and a keen eye for detail, I find Olivier Acuña’s story both heartbreaking and enlightening. His resilience in the face of adversity is truly inspiring, from his harrowing experiences with drug cartels and government censorship to his unwavering passion for the crypto industry.

In the delightful warmth of a Spanish evening in 2023 along the east coast, I found myself seated before my computer, poised to move my accumulated funds into another digital currency wallet, a routine action I’d executed numerous times prior.

“Sending crypto always induces anxiety,” Acuña told CoinDesk. This rang painfully true that night.

Immediately after Acuña pressed ‘send’, he lost everything: a total of $400,000 in cryptocurrency, all his savings, vanishing into the hands of an unknown phishing scammer. A sharp sound echoed in Acuña’s ears, his body heat surged and his knuckles tightened.

Acuña’s loss demonstrates that no one is immune to crypto hacks. He’s a seven-year crypto industry veteran, someone who grasps the need for wariness given the dangers that lurk around blockchains. Before that, he was a journalist for decades, where staying alert was a must as he faced violent drug cartels in Mexico and torture in prison.

And yet he became one of the many victims of crypto scams. In 2023, U.S. officials received 69,000 reports of crypto theft totaling more than $5.6 billion.

Obtaining the lost funds can sometimes be challenging, especially when traditional bank accounts are compromised. In such cases, insurance usually reimburses your losses. However, unlike conventional banking systems, cryptocurrency operates in a decentralized manner without a highly regulated structure as intended. This aspect provides users with desired independence from institutions; yet, it also presents a risky situation. The absence of intermediaries can put individuals just one click away from potential financial disaster.

The hack itself was nothing special. Because Acuña couldn’t access his funds on a Ledger hardware device, he reached out to customer support via social media. An impersonator swooped in and, following 30 minutes of deception, Acuña was stuck in the scammer’s web.

As a crypto investor myself, I can’t stress enough the prevalence of phishing scams today. Adrian Hetman, who leads triaging at Web3 security researcher Immunefi, shared with CoinDesk that these fraudulent activities are becoming increasingly common in our crypto space. Criminals are leveraging phishing attempts not just to swipe individual user funds but also to orchestrate larger-scale thefts and launch more complex attacks on project infrastructure by employing social engineering tactics.

In this context, allow me to rephrase the statement from my perspective as an analyst: Once more, I found myself powerless, now entangled within the intricate web of a blockchain system – a technology that had previously been my refuge. This predicament arose from a harrowing incident of mistaken identity and unjust incarceration in Mexico.

Working undercover

In the 1990s, Acuña embarked on his journalism career, an occupation that presented him challenges such as government censorship, unjust detentions, and dangerous threats to his life.

His investigations into organized crime, voting irregularities, and corruption drew attention from United Press International (UPI) and Reforma, leading him to delve further into one of the world’s deadliest and most infamous drug cartels.

He was based in Sinaloa, a state in Mexico that runs down the west coast from Los Mochis to Mazatlán. The fertile, mountainous territory emerged as a hotbed of organized crime, leading to the formation of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel.

As an analyst, I found myself delving deeper into Acuña’s journalistic journey. Initially, his investigations into the cartel propelled him towards independent freelance work. Notably, esteemed news agencies such as Associated Press and Reuters recognized and published his work. This marked a significant turning point in his career within Mexico, where it peaked with an intensity that could only be described as turbulent.

Authorities caught wind of one of Acuña’s stories on corruption and decided enough was enough. They accused him of hiding a weapon that belonged to the Attorney General’s office. Acuña says he was tortured for 16 hours.

He explained, “On a particularly harrowing day, I was forcibly placed into a vehicle in an extremely brutal fashion. A notorious police officer known for his cruelty was dispatched, and I was taken against my will. For 16 hours, they subjected me to waterboarding, bound me, restricted my blood flow, and contorted my body. At one point, they threatened, ‘In the next room, your family resides. We will bring them in here, one by one, and murder them before your eyes until you reveal where the weapon is hidden.’

After being imprisoned for two years due to allegations (which Acuña claims were unfounded) that were eventually dismissed, Acuña chose to file a lawsuit concerning human rights against the Mexican governmental authorities.

Crypto salvation, or not

2017 marked a fresh start for Acuña, leaving behind his troubled history, he ventured into the captivating realm of cryptocurrency. He spent time as a spokesperson for a digital payments firm named Electroneum, later moving on to produce television content at BloxLive. His most recent role has been serving as a public relations representative at IOTEX, another company within the crypto industry.

His challenging upbringing equipped him for the world of cryptocurrencies, an industry that, although gaining more mainstream recognition from traditional finance, still struggles with the lawless atmosphere reminiscent of its early frontier days.

Although Acuña’s background might not typically match those in cryptocurrency, it serves as a significant example that the appeal of the crypto world isn’t solely about speculative financial profits: It’s also about challenging the authority of governments, banks, and elites, which resonated with Acuña.

On my first day of exploring crypto and blockchain, I declared, “Here’s the answer to all the troubles with censorship and freedom of speech. Here’s the remedy for government corruption. Here, at last, is something I can fully trust and feel passionate about,” Acuña shared with CoinDesk.

Even after losing all his savings, Acuña persists in working within the cryptocurrency sector; however, he cautions that this field is still quite far from becoming commonplace or widely accepted.

For widespread acceptance to occur, it’s crucial that this process becomes effortless,” he emphasized. Currently, the user interface is causing unease as it often leads to concerns such as, “Did I do something incorrectly? Will I accidentally lose my funds?” Every transaction triggers these doubts.

If a single application combines all your cryptocurrencies regardless of the network they are on, allows seamless conversion, and facilitates sending transactions without hassle, I can’t imagine such an app gaining popularity.

This remains a key hurdle for the industry; tech-savvy millennials know how to buy an asset on Ethereum, bridge it to Solana and buy a memecoin on Pump.fun before sending that to an exchange, but the majority of regular people don’t.

“I don’t want to exit crypto, I’m still excited about crypto,” Acuña said. “Will moving money around always be traumatic? Yes. But I love this sector.”

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2024-12-20 18:34