BBC pulls crypto documentary amid scam claims
A BBC documentary focusing on a 20-year-old, who claims he turned £37 into £5.9m through crypto trading, has been dropped from scheduling.
The 30 minute programme, which was due to air last night at 7:30pm, featured Hanad Hassan who said he had become incredibly wealthy by trading cryptocurrencies. The claim that he had turned an initial £37 investment into a multi million pound fortune suggested he had made an astonishing investment return of almost 16,000,000 per cent in nine months.
An accompanying BBC article, which has since been taken down from the website, featured details of Hassan’s successful investment career including how he had spent his wealth. In addition to purchasing a £30,000 Mercedes and a city-centre apartment the article said that the young millionaire had started his own crypto currency and used £200,000 of the proceeds to distribute money to foodbanks in Birmingham, where Hassan lives.
The claims have caused controversy because Hassan is listed as the founder of crypto currency Orfano, which has come under fire from investors who claim they were left out of pocket when the project shut down in October without explanation. Around this time, those who had invested in Orfano claimed that they were unable to take their money out on Social Media.
Guardian journalist Jim Waterson pointed out that a quick Twitter search for the word “Orfano” led to multiple accounts of users affected by the project’s collapse.
The BBC’s crypto documentary was meant to be part of a “Bossing It” series that highlighted successful entrepreneurs around the country.
Asked why the programme would no longer air, a BBC spokesman told the Birmingham Mail: “The programme has been withdrawn from tonight’s schedule while we look into editorial issues.”