China has arrested more than 100 separate individuals who may have taken part in the Plus Token scam that resulted in more than $1 billion in stolen crypto funds.
Plus Token Is One of the Biggest Ponzi Schemes
Initially based in South Korea, Plus Token was designed to be a “high-yield” investment plan that allegedly offered massive funds for all who took part. As much as 18 percent yield was promised to investors from both South Korea and China granted that they were willing to store cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum and EOS with the firm.
In addition, anybody who brought other customers to take part in the plan would receive large commission payments, resulting in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes the BTC space has come to know.
The fact that the company was promising huge returns should have been a massive red flag to everyone involved. Nobody can promise returns of any kind in the world of investing, much less with crypto. Digital currencies have shown themselves to be extremely volatile, and while it’s certainly possible to gain heavy amounts overnight thanks to this volatility, it’s even more plausible to lose vast amounts.
This has happened time and time again, the biggest example being from 2017 to 2018, when bitcoin fell from its all-time high of roughly $20,000 to a low of about $3,500 within 11 short months.
Still, it looks like the thought of getting rich quick is hard for some to resist, which explains why scams like Plus Token are still so prominent in the crypto space. In 2019, Plus Token performed something of an exit scam. Approximately $3-$6 billion in bitcoin and assorted crypto funds were taken from over four million users, who woke up one day and suddenly had difficulty accessing their money.
Following news that the company had shut down and potentially split with the funds in tow, police officials and other members of local law enforcement saw themselves working long hours to try and find the culprits. Only six suspects were arrested or taken into custody last year, though that figure has now surged to more than 100 as the rest of the puzzle pieces are placed together.
Can the Money Be Found?
While the criminals may have come under lock and key, finding the lost or stolen funds will be an entirely different story, and likely much more difficult to nail down. As many as 6,000 separate crypto wallet addresses have been used to hide the stolen funds, though researchers claim they are close to deciphering where all the money has gone.
Still, situations like these are common in the crypto space, with the latest one involving Twitter and some very high-profile accounts. Hackers made off with roughly $121,000 in BTC funds from unsuspecting users after promising to double whatever money they were sent.