Michaela
Summary: Could crypto have prevented the scam that stole $803K from an elderly victim?
Possibly. The scam relied on forged checks, insider access, and a lack of transparency — weaknesses common in traditional banking. A blockchain-based system like Shibarium, with public ledgers and no middlemen, could have made that kind of fraud far harder to pull off.
Michel Duarte Suarez, a Cuban national, has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a scheme in which he gained control of the bank account of an elderly victim, stole over $800,000, and worked with accomplices in South Florida to launder the funds.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Suarez, who was living in Panama City at the time of his indictment in September 2023, was taken into custody in Panama in January 2025.
Per court documents, in March 2022, Suarez disclosed to a confidential informant that he had access to the bank account of an 82-year-old victim. As part of the fraud scheme, Suarez orchestrated the creation and mailing of counterfeit checks from Panama to South Florida.
These checks, bearing forged signatures mimicking the victim’s, were cashed by accomplices who were instructed to wire half of the proceeds back to Suarez’s Miami-based company, Online Electronics.
Suarez and his associates are alleged to have fraudulently withdrawn nearly $803,000 from the bank account of the elderly victim over the course of four months. He now faces up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank and mail fraud, along with a mandatory additional sentence of two years.
An Elderly Victim, a Broken System — Can SHIB Do Better?
What if trustless, encrypted, blockchain-based systems like Shibarium became the standard for financial security? While blockchain offers transparency and decentralization, it’s not bulletproof—yet. Like all other tech stacks today, even the Shiba Inu ecosystem is still vulnerable to attacks. The missing piece? FHE, or Fully Homomorphic Encryption—what many call the holy grail of data security.
That’s why the Shiba Inu team is building something bold: the Alpha Layer, soon to be FHE-powered, alongside the broader Shibarium network. These tools are already live—but without FHE, they’re still exposed to the same risks plaguing centralized systems. Until we implement FHE tech, smart contracts, governance votes, and sensitive transactions remain readable, hackable, and traceable.
FHE changes the game by allowing encrypted data to be computed on without ever decrypting it. That means validators and applications can process user data without ever seeing it—zero trust, zero leakage.
In a world where an elderly person can lose $803K because of forged checks and insider manipulation, the urgency for next-gen cryptographic protections is obvious. By integrating FHE into Shibarium and the Alpha Layer, Shiba Inu isn’t just following the path of decentralization—it’s future-proofing it.
For SHIB holders and builders, this marks a defining shift: from simply using blockchain for transparency to using it securely, privately, and resiliently. The fight against financial fraud isn’t over—but the future, with FHE on the horizon, is looking a lot harder to hack.
Read More
- AI Jennifer Aniston Sweet-Talks British Victim Out of His Cash
- Nigerian Man Admits Laundering $2.5M in Crypto from US Romance Scams
- Smart Contracts: Revolutionizing Trust and Automation Principles
Michaela has no crypto positions and does not hold any crypto assets. This article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The Shib Magazine and The Shib Daily are the official media and publications of the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency project. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.
