South Korean crypto wallet PlusToken has allegedly conducted an exit scam with $3 billion in funds stolen from users’ funds, according to a recent report. This as their digital presence has disappeared, including their website, Twitter account, as well as all other social media accounts.
Now, reports have surfaced that six of the members of the organization were arrested on the Island of Vanuatu and have been handed over to the Yancheng police in China. The six Chinese citizens were caught as part of an ongoing investigation into the platform, which is now being referred to as a pyramid scheme.
News originally broke on June 27, with reports that those who had accounts with PlusToken were finding it difficult to withdraw money from their accounts. A temporary glitch was cited as the problem, and that the issue would be fixed quickly, but that did not occur. Instead, users soon found that they could not access the accounts at all.
Many joined PlusToken with promises of an 18% return on their investment. This led to over three million registered users by May 30, 2019, according to the company, but those numbers were never confirmed.
Soon, users spread stories of accounts closing and money gone missing. Some claimed to have lost as much as $5,000. This led to several complaints being filed with the police in Hunan province, where an investigation was started.
Now, six members of the staff are in custody awaiting trial on charges related to fraud and theft. It is reported that not only are they being investigated in Hunan, but also in Beijing, and Jiangsu, as well as in other countries in the region. Of the six arrested, the most prominent is Chen Bo. The names of all six have been released, including Dong Jian Hua, Wang Ren Hu, Peng Yi Xuan and Yuan Yuan.
Sadly, these kinds of fraudulent scams continue in the crypto world. Just days ago, a cryptocurrency project known as Tron came under scrutiny when it was linked to a Ponzi scheme. This scheme was conducted using the Wave Field Super Community App, which has now been shut down. It is believed that this app was a hacker led initiative, but that has not been proven in court.
This is another cautionary tale to remind investors to do their homework before investing with any firm. They need to keep in mind that if the return sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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