Scammer Steals R$169,000 From Cancer Patient; Community Unmasks Culprit

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Well, here’s a fun plot twist: scammer robs a cancer patient of R$169,000. But wait… the community has a detective moment and uncovers an Argentina-based fraudster. Plot thickens.

Raivo Plavnieks, poor guy, was already fighting stage 4 sarcoma and somehow also had to deal with this. He lost over US$32,000 (roughly R$169,000) after downloading a game that promised to be fun and harmless, but spoiler: it was not. Instead, it came with a nasty little surprise-malware.

In case you’re wondering, Raivo’s the creator of CANCER cryptocurrency, a noble venture to fund his chemotherapy. What did he get in return for his creativity? A scammer snatching his funds in the most inconvenient way possible-by hacking his system during a live stream. Love that for him. 🙄

Source – X

Raivo’s big complaint? His money vanished, poof, like magic, and he was left wondering how he’d pay for his survival essentials. Yikes. 😬

The Internet Sleuths Take Over

The crypto community, always the first to jump into action (and maybe with some popcorn), tracked down the culprit. Turns out, the scammer used a game called BlockBlasters, which had infected over 900 victims with its little virus buddies. These viruses scooped up wallet details and then, ta-da, they were sent to the scammer.

Shoutout to open-source intelligence (OSINT) because they really did some deep diving and tracked this guy to an Argentine guy chilling in Miami, Florida. Meanwhile, the scammer’s Telegram channel served as a perfect treasure map-complete with Instagram, PayPal, and YouTube accounts. You know, just casually revealing his identity and lifestyle like it’s no big deal.

Raivo, on the other hand, did what he could to fight back. He racked up about US$118,700 in donations through Pump.Fun and GoFundMe to take on cancer like the warrior he is. And just when things were looking up… bam! That’s when the scammer swiped $32,000 right from under him. How rude.

Steam, You Had One Job…

And then there’s Steam. The platform where BlockBlasters was hosted since July. So, while we’re all playing innocent games, some of us are playing with malware. 😬 This isn’t the first time Steam’s been a digital playground for shady activity. They’ve accidentally hosted crypto games laced with viruses. Not great, Steam. Not great at all.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) got involved, but surprise-official response? Still waiting. 😒

The Internet investigation continues, and everyone is keeping an eye on the scammer, hoping that justice (or at least a really satisfying takedown) happens. It’s a reminder: the web is a dangerous place, even if you think you’re just downloading a fun little game.

But hey, credit where it’s due: the online community is on fire, exposing fraudsters like it’s their side hustle. No fraudster is safe from the Internet mob. 💪

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2025-09-24 21:34