How a journalist went from exposing Mexican cartels to losing his life’s crypto savings


On a balmy afternoon in 2023 on the east coast of Spain, Olivier Acuña sat down at his computer to transfer his life savings to another cryptocurrency wallet, as he had done hundreds of times before.

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

As soon as Acuña hit send, it was all over: $400,000 in cryptocurrency (all his money) disappeared, stolen by an anonymous phishing scammer. A piercing noise echoed in Acuña’s ears, his temperature rose and he clenched his fists.

Acuña’s loss shows that no one is immune to crypto attacks. He is a seven-year veteran of the crypto industry, someone who understands the need to be cautious given the dangers lurking around blockchains. Before that, he was a journalist for decades, where staying alert was imperative while facing violent drug cartels in Mexico and torture in prison.

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

Getting that money back can be difficult. If your normal bank account is breached, insurance will almost certainly cover your losses. But there is no highly regulated system like that of cryptocurrencies, which is famously and quite intentionally decentralized. While such disintermediation gives cryptocurrency users the freedom they crave from institutions, it is also a double-edged sword. Omitting guardians can also leave people just one click away from ruin.

The trick itself was nothing special. Because Acuña was unable to access his funds on a Ledger hardware device, he contacted customer support via social media. An impersonator pounced on him and, after 30 minutes of deception, Acuña was caught in the scammer’s web.

“Phishing scams are still incredibly prolific today,” Adrian Hetman, head of classification at security researcher Web3 Immunefi, told CoinDesk. “Phishing attempts are a growing concern in the cryptocurrency space, as criminals see them as an effective way to steal user funds on a large scale and apply social engineering for more sophisticated attacks on the project’s infrastructure.”

Acuña was helpless again, this time at the mercy of a blockchain that was once his salvation after a false imprisonment ordeal in Mexico.

Working undercover

Acuña began working as a journalist in the 1990s, a career that faced him with government censorship, illegal imprisonment, and death threats.

His work on organized crime, elections, and corruption soon brought him to the attention of United Press International (UPI) and Reforma, where he began delving into one of the most notorious and violent drug cartels in the world.

It was based in Sinaloa, a state in Mexico that runs along 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.

Sierra Tarahumara, Sinaloa, Mexico (Alejandro Cartagena/Unsplash)

Acuña’s coverage of the cartel eventually led him to work independently as a freelance journalist and his work was picked up by companies such as the Associated Press and Reuters. It was then that his career in Mexico reached a turbulent crescendo.

Authorities heard about one of Acuña’s stories about 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.

“One day, they threw me into a vehicle in the most violent way you can imagine,” he said. “They sent a police commander widely known for torturing people and kidnapped me. For 16 hours they waterboarded me, tied me up, cut off my circulation, and bent me backwards. At one point they told me: ‘We have your family next door.’ We will bring them here one by one and kill them in front of you until you tell us where the gun is.’”

Acuña was subsequently imprisoned for two years on accusations, which Acuña claimed were false, which were later dropped. He filed a human rights lawsuit against Mexican authorities.

Cryptographic salvation, or not

In 2017, Acuña wiped the slate clean on his tortuous past, entering the wonderfully strange world of cryptocurrencies, enjoying stints as a public relations officer at payments firm Electroneum, a television producer at BloxLive and, most recently, another public relations role in the company DePIN IOTEX.

His tough experience prepared him for the crypto industry, which despite growing acceptance by the traditional financial sector, continues to grapple with the Wild West environment of its inception.

While Acuña may not have the most common backstory for those working in cryptocurrencies, he is still a pertinent reminder that the appeal of the cryptocurrency industry is not just speculative financial gain: it is also an industry that controls the power of governments, banks and elites, who appealed to Acuña.

“The first day I started writing about crypto and blockchain, I said, ‘Here’s the solution to all the problems of lack of freedom of expression.’ Here is the solution to government corruption. Here is, finally, something I can have faith in and do with passion,’” Acuña told CoinDesk.

Despite losing his life savings, Acuña continues to work in the cryptocurrency industry, although he warns that it is a long way from becoming mainstream.

“If we ever want mass adoption, this needs to be seamless,” he said. At the moment, the user experience “produces anxiety.” Every time I send cryptocurrency, I think: ‘Have I done it wrong? Am I going to lose my money? Each and every time.’”

Unless “we have an app where all your cryptocurrencies are in that same app, and it doesn’t matter what the damn network it is, you can turn it into whatever you want, convert it, and send it, then I just don’t do it.” see it” taking off.

This remains a key obstacle for the industry; Tech-savvy millennials know how to buy an asset on Ethereum, connect it to Solana, and buy a memecoin on Pump.fun before sending it to an exchange, but most regular people don’t.

“I don’t want to get out of cryptocurrencies, I’m still excited about cryptocurrencies,” Acuña said. “Will it always be traumatic to move money? Yes. But I love this sector.”



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