Anatomy of an info-cynic: How Oleksandr Orlovskyi sells fake success while routing Ukrainian users to Russian bots

The Financial Freedom Academy takes additional steps to access citizens’ savings.

In 2024, crypto scammers obtained at least 9.9 billion US dollars. As Oleksa Shtuchnyi reports in his article for the CRIME and [notable cases] projects, analysts from the analytical company Chainalysis concluded that this amount may increase, as new illegal addresses associated with financial fraud will be identified throughout the year.

Despite preliminary estimates indicating a certain decrease in fraudsters’ revenues in 2024, the actual figures may turn out to be record-breaking. Analysts note an average increase in fraudulent income by 24% between annual reporting periods. Thus, the losses of crypto scam victims may exceed 12 billion dollars by the end of the year.

One of the most popular schemes remains the high-yield investment scam (HYIS), based on the principles of a financial pyramid. In 2024, this scheme was responsible for 50.2% of all funds obtained by fraudsters, although its share in the overall volume of scams decreased by 36.6% compared to 2023.

Chainalysis researchers overlooked a type of scam known as crypto infoscamming, more commonly known in our areas as crypto info-cyber fraud (where they promise to teach you how to get rich quickly and effortlessly in crypto for a significant amount of money).

Ads for info-cyber fraud are increasingly appearing on social networks and messengers. Therefore, it’s evident that their net coverage is expanding, as are their profits.

Among the most aggressive promoters of their “services” is the already known to our readers Oleksandr Orlovskyi, the nominal founder of the Financial Freedom Academy (also known as the FFA community). And we decided to mention him again for a reason.

Under the FFA brand, Oleksandr Orlovskyi promotes several infoscamming “products.” Until November last year, their name started with “FFA Crypto,” and after that, Orlovskyi swapped the words and it became “Crypto FFA.” What seems like a meaningless rebranding was done after the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) added FFA Crypto, FFA Crypto RISE, and FFA Crypto Capitalist to the list of suspicious investment projects. That is, those showing signs of financial pyramids.

In June last year

In December 2024

Since the activities of the NSSMC are widely covered by influential media, it was much easier for Orlovskyi to replace words in the scam’s name. After all, if potential suckers investors search in Google, for example, “FFA Crypto Capitalist,” they will find the regulator’s warning. But when they enter “premium investment program Capitalist” into the search bar, they may come across the “updated” project that seemingly has no problems.

Moreover, after the NSSMC’s “black mark,” banks and payment systems may block payments associated with FFA Crypto. But for them, Crypto FFA is completely clean until the regulator again turns its attention to Orlovskyi.

However, the name change does not seem to help much, so Oleksandr Orlovskyi “counterattacked” the National Commission through the court. On March 19th, Individual Entrepreneur Oleksandr Orlovskyi filed a lawsuit against the NSSMC in the Kyiv District Administrative Court. The plaintiff asks the servants of Themis:

“To recognize the actions of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market regarding unwarranted control (supervision) over Individual Entrepreneur O. O. Orlovskyi and the inspection (analysis) of his activities regarding maintaining the so-called ’list of suspicious investment projects’ regarding the inclusion (entry) of the Plaintiff’s educational services to this list, namely: training programs FFA Crypto / FFA Crypto RISE / FFA Crypto CAPITALIST to the list of suspicious investment projects as unlawful.”

We will tell you next time about how a financial pyramid truly built under the “umbrella” of FFA Crypto pseudo-educational projects and how it’s arranged. How FFA operatives extract money from “clients” through third parties can be read here. By the way, they de facto encourage them to collaborate with residents of the aggressor country.

Right now, it’s worth noting the kind of announcements Oleksandr Orlovskyi uses to lure Ukrainians eager for quick profit into his net. After all, this is an exemplary sample of manipulative marketing used by info-cyber fraudsters to attract new victims to dubious financial schemes.

This is how Oleksandr Orlovskyi uses psychological triggers and dangerous promises:

1. The illusion of easy money without effort

Phrases like:

• “you just invest, the team does the rest”
• “how to scale profit without involvement”

create the illusion of passive income without any effort.

Why is this a deception?

• Any experienced investor knows that passive income without risk is a myth. In reality, investing requires a deep understanding of the market, risk analysis, and capital management. The promises of “profit without effort” are a classic scam that lures inexperienced people.

2. Manipulation with the term “investment”

• Oleksandr Orlovskyi deliberately calls it an “investment,” although it’s actually a contribution to a suspicious project that promises guaranteed profit.
• Oleksandr Orlovskyi avoids the term “speculation” so as not to evoke high-risk associations. People think they are investing money, like in deposits or stocks, but instead become participants in a dubious scheme.

3. Social proof and “profitable cases”

Orlovskyi refers to “profitable investor cases.” This is a classic social proof technique that works like this:

• If others earned, then I can too.
• “Everyone follows Orlovskyi, so he is an expert.”

But here’s the hidden trap

• “Profitable cases” are usually either fictitious or show only short-term successes without revealing the full picture.
• Real investors may lose money, but of course, this is not mentioned.

4. Using the word “Capitalist” as a brand

The name Capitalist creates a sense of legality and professionalism, although it’s just a marketing trick. In reality:

• Orlovskyi’s Capitalist, like FFA Crypto in general, has no license or regulation in Ukraine or other jurisdictions.
• Oleksandr Orlovskyi does not provide transparent information about the financial model and risks.
• It could be a regular pyramid scheme where the money of new investors is paid to previous ones until the flow of funds stops.

Besides hacking the minds of his “congregation,” crypto preacher Oleksandr Orlovskyi seems to have decided to “hack” their gadgets too.

For about six months, our team has recorded https://orlovskyi.com – Orlovskyi’s flagship internet platform – with malware of the malvertising type (the last recorded occurrence was in March this year).

Malvertising (short for malicious advertising) is a form of cyber attack where malicious software (virus, trojan, spy, cryptominer, etc.) is distributed through online advertising.

Given the prolonged presence of this “glitch” on Orlovskyi’s site, it’s unlikely that an outside hacker “attached” malware to it. Most likely, it’s done by the team of this “crypto guru.” Why?

Theoretically, using Malvertising, Oleksandr Orlovskyi and his entourage could gain several types of benefits:

• Monetization of traffic. Redirecting users to affiliate sites or premium subscriptions.
• Data collection. Obtaining personal data (emails, phone numbers) that can be used for further marketing.
• Behavior manipulation. Influence on users’ investment or course purchase decisions.
• Increasing engagement. Using psychological techniques to retain users’ attention on Orlovskyi’s resources.
• Manipulation of search algorithms. Some types of malvertising can affect a site’s SEO, increasing its Google ranking through artificial clicks and redirects.

Whatever goal Orlovskyi’s sect used this “gadget” for, there’s an interesting legal nuance here. Because using software similar to malvertising in Ukraine is a criminal offense.

For example, if users suffer attacks or data theft through malvertising, it can be qualified as interference with computer systems. This is Article 361 of the Criminal Code.

If Oleksandr Orlovskyi and his team just spied on visitors, for example, to “sell” them their “information product” more effectively, this is Article 361-2, referred to as “Unauthorized distribution or dissemination of restricted information stored in electronic computing machines.”

To be continued…

Author: Oleksa Shtuchnyi