Review by Nicu Ilie on ‘The Devil’s Coin’ by Jennifer MacAdam and Douglas Thompson
To enter the digital world armed only with a very vague knowledge, from hearsay, means to expose yourself to all sorts of dangers. And you risk losing everything. Whether it’s money, politics, or anything else, ignorance will turn against you if you go into games with too high stakes and that you only have a vague idea about. Behind the anonymity that the internet offers and behind smoke curtains, unknown people have no scruple exploiting the vulnerabilities of unknown people.
The Fascination of Illusion
Yes, in the digital age there are large fortunes in a very short time. Yes, cryptocurrencies have been a way of getting rich quickly for many of those who got involved very early. Yes, financial and banking services are safe and prevent a large number of threats. Yes, you can make investments in all sorts of digital and real properties, from your home, and you can get important profits. But you should know what you are doing, to clearly understand the mechanisms and to know what you are risking and what you can expect.
From a small Scottish town, Jennifer MacAdam had a very vague idea of what a digital currency is. And he had, above all, a very much need for money. When she was offered to buy crypto and was promised quadruple, even an even bigger increase in investment, she said: I heard of those who invested in Bitcoin and who gained huge fortunes; why not?
He invested most of his money, he brought both from friends and family. Her sums in the accounts were growing nicely, and she was planning her life as a wealthy man. But those growths were just somewhere on a site. Nothing could ever turn into real money or real merchandise. The currency in which she invested was not Bitcoin; it was a fake, which had none of the attributes of a cryptocurrency. And especially it had no value.
He soon realized he was the victim of a scam. And not just any scam, but the largest in history. (At least until this date. (And that’s if we don’t take the ones in politics into account!))
We are born victims
We are born victims and what makes us less vulnerable is education. Or, in the absence of this, experience.
Along with millions of other people who thought they were investing in that fake currency, MacAdam gained experience on its own, from mistakes. But she noticed that a few months earlier than others. During the period when OneCoin, the illusory successor of Bitcoin, continued to thrive around the world, Jennifer MacAdam became one of the early whistleblowers. Her book is this story of the desperate struggle to convince people that everything is a smokescreen and that everything that has been put in front of them is a pyramid game.
Jennifer McAdam’s “The Devil’s Coin” is the real story seen from within of the biggest financial scam of our years, representing far more than a simple account of a financial fraud. It is a painful X-ray of how human vulnerabilities can be systematically exploited in the digital age.
Jennifer McAdam lost thousands of pounds in the Ponzi OneCoin scheme, which has swindled about £4bn from people around the world. This devastating personal experience turns the book into an authentic document about the fragility of trust in the digital world.
Anatomy of a Perfect Scam
Ruja Ignatova had called herself “Cryptoqueen” and presented her company, OneCoin, as a profitable rival of Bitcoin in the growing cryptocurrency market. But it was all just marketing. Independent investigations revealed that OneCoin was working rather as a Ponzi scheme (pyramidal game), it had no verifiable blockchains or central authority to control transactions – unlike legitimate cryptocurrencies, OneCoin had no real value and was conceived from the start with the intention of defrauding depositors.
McAdam’s book demonstrates with worrying clarity how manipulation in the digital age works. The victims were simply not fooled about an investment – they were sold a vision, a future in which they were not just investors, but pioneers of a financial revolution. OneCoin promised financial freedom and prosperity for anyone, anywhere in the world. The main target was the ones that the banks considered too poor to be given credit lines. It would have been a great global financial release. It is this psychological stake of scamming that makes the “The Devil’s Coin” an essential read for understanding our contemporary vulnerabilities.
Lessons for the Digital Age
What makes this book interesting is how it exposes the mechanisms of social pressure through which ordinary people can be turned into victims of elaborate schemes and, at the same time, into stops of those who have a different view from theirs. It’s not just about technological ignorance – it’s about how many people wanting to be part of something important and revolutionary can be exploited.
McAdam shows how modern scammers don’t confine themselves to only promising financial gains. They sell identity, importance, the feeling of being at the forefront of progress. The OneCoin victims did not believe they were only investing money – they believed they were participating in building the world’s financial future. Any point of view contrary to this vision was ruled out with violence, and OneCoin challengers were threatened and intimidated. In many ways, the behavior was perfectly similar to that of a sect.
A mirror of our society
The book is a dark mirror of our digital society, in which we quickly adopt technologies that we understand superficially. This vulnerability is not limited to financial investment – it extends to how we consume information, how we participate in political life, and how we form our views on complex issues.
“The Devil’s Coin” is a warning about the cost of technological ignorance in an increasingly digitized world. But more than that, it is a deep analysis of how our desire for relevance and participation can be turned into a weapon against us.
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