A professional footballer and midfielder, M. Khadzhynov, reported losing approximately $250,000 in cryptocurrency after a transaction via the CoinCraddle exchange, which is listed on the BestChange aggregator (as reported by telegrafua.com).
The funds were initially “frozen” under the pretext of an AML check and later declared “confiscated at the request of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).”
According to the investigation, the scheme of confiscations on BestChange via “MVD requests” and pseudo “AML checks” has been operating at least since 2022 and, prior to the Khadzhynov case, was used mainly against foreigners who physically could not verify the authenticity of documents in Russia or promptly organize legal protection.
The key turning point was that, in the dispute over Khadzhynov’s case, BestChange presented a screenshot of an “MVD letter” dated earlier than the actual “request” cited by both the exchange and the aggregator. The funds were frozen in March, the email to BestChange is dated early April, and the MVD request forming the basis for the “confiscation” was issued only at the end of April. This fact puts BestChange in the position of at least being an accomplice in legitimizing an unlawful confiscation of funds, rather than a neutral aggregator.
Khadzhynov filed a complaint with the UAE police and hired a lawyer in Russia. The lawyer submitted an official inquiry to the specified MVD department and received a direct written response from the agency: under the outgoing number indicated in the exchange’s “request”, completely different details are registered — a different criminal case number and a different article. In other words, the discrepancies between the official MVD request and the documents provided by CoinCraddle and BestChange are documented and may indicate forgery of documents.
It is noted that CoinCraddle operates through the company CodeSphere Limited, which the Seychelles financial regulator had previously designated as an unlicensed provider and ordered to cease operations. Nevertheless, the exchange continued to be listed on BestChange among the “verified” services.
Within the framework of the investigation, it was precisely the footballer’s case — where legal representatives were engaged and a complaint was filed with the UAE police — that for the first time made it possible to document and describe the mechanism of the scheme operated by BestChange and affiliated exchanges: the confiscation of large sums belonging to foreign clients was justified by forged “requests” and email scans purportedly from the MVD.
The full timeline of events, copies of documents and screenshots are available on the website bestchange-aml-scam.com.
