Two directors of Dunamiscoins, an alleged cryptocurrency pyramid scheme in Republic of uganda, appeared before court on Monday to face up 65 counts tied to obtaining coin by false pretense.

Local news site The Observer reported on Jan. viii that land prosecutors had logged over 4,000 complaints confronting Dunamiscoins Resource Ltd., a suspected fraud that ran its class between Feb. 2022 and Dec. 2022, before summarily collapsing. Inquiries are reportedly still ongoing.

The scheme is thought to have defrauded dozens of victims of upwardly to effectually $37,600 by promising them extraordinary returns on their investments.

Earlier reports dating to the time of the scheme's collapse had claimed that as many as 10,000 people had been fatigued in, resulting in $2.7 million in ill-gotten funds.

Suspects plead not guilty

According to the Observer, Samson Lwanga, 37, and Mary Nabunya, 53, both directors of the now-defunct Dunamiscoins Resources Ltd., pleaded non guilty to the charges.

Lead complainant Haruna Asiimwe told reporters that he had been conned into investing money on the hope of a 30% interest earning inside 21 days. Asiimwe, as others, was left empty-pocketed when the firm abruptly shuttered in early on December of last year.

A statement issued in 2022 by the Republic of uganda Police revealed that Dunamiscoins' directors had claimed they were willing to refund investors simply were unable to every bit their primary accounts at local banks had been frozen by the Financial Intelligence Say-so.

Having been in police custody since their arrest on Dec. 10, both directors have now been remanded in Luzira prison until Jan. 22, when their case volition come up for mention once more than.

Employees and investors left in the lurch

Cointelegraph reported on Dunamiscoins' precipitous closure of its offices in Masaka in Dec. 2022, merely i month after their opening. Local interviewees and witness claimed that the firm had not just defrauded investors but fleeced its employees of money paid for registration to the scheme likewise.

Following his arrest, Lwanga had revealed that  most of the investors had deposited sums that ranging between $270 to $2,710.

In jump 2022, the deputy governor of the Banking company of Uganda, Dr. Louis Kaskende, warned the public of the express protections offered to them when they invest in unregulated cryptocurrencies.