Plus Token leader faces public prosecution in China

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Chinese authorities are set to prosecute one of the key leaders in the multibillion dollar Plus Token digital currency scam. The leader is alleged to have been one of the biggest recruiters, with his marketing activities bringing in close to 2 million users.

Zhou Moumou was in charge of promoting the Plus Token app on WeChat and other online channels, the report alleges. He brought in 1.93 million users onto the platform, accounting for 14 million yuan ($1.96 million). He touted the app as a digital currency financial management platform, promising the recruits that they would make incredible returns. He also claimed that the app would mine digital currencies for its users, but they had to send a certain amount of digital currencies to activate their accounts.

The app, however, was just a Ponzi scheme, with the users only rewarded for recruiting other paying members.

Zhou was reportedly arrested by authorities in Vanuatu, a small island country in the South Pacific Ocean. He was later handed over to Chinese authorities.

The report further claims that Chinese prosecutors are confident that Zhou will be convicted of his crimes, which include “illegally selling token tickets, illegally issuing securities, illegal fund-raising, financial fraud, and pyramid schemes.” According to China’s laws, any project that has an entry fee and that promises remuneration of its users based on their ability to recruit others is a pyramid scheme.

China is no stranger to digital currency pyramid schemes. Just recently, it emerged that yet another scam similar to Plus Token had managed to rake in over $1.1 billion. Known as WoToken, the scam has been in operation since 2018. The scam was orchestrated by six individuals, some of whom had been previously convicted and jailed for fraud.

The prosecutor in charge of the WoToken case recommended different sentences for the culprits, depending on their involvement and their cooperation with the investigators. They ranged from six months to 11 years.

In yet another Chinese scam, the fraudsters were able to collect $12 million just three weeks after launching their scam. The scam was known as Antimatter Kingdom and was modeled on a utopian future where the economy was reliant on the scam’s blockchain platform.