A Chinese national wanted for allegedly running a multimillion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme on nearly 100 victims across China through a fake DeFi project was arrested by Thai authorities on Wednesday.
According to Binance Square, the authorities arrested Liang Ai-Bing over an alleged $14 million crypto scam after the police raided an upscale three-story residence in Bangkok’s Wang Thonglang. According to reports, he was part of an alleged five-person operation, promoting a fraudulent DeFi platform called “FINTOCH” from December 2022 to May 2023.
Liang and his associate, Tang Zhenque, operated the platform’s technical development and project framework, while Al Qinghua and Wu Jiangyan managed its promotion and marketing efforts. Zuo Laijun, who handled sales operations, was released on bail pending trial.
The platform was advertised as Morgan DF Fintoch, where they falsely claimed affiliation with Morgan Stanley, which was later publicly dismissed by the investment bank in 2023.
To boost their credibility, they also introduced a fictitious CEO named “Bob Lambert”, using the images of a paid actor, Mike Provenzano.
Immunefi, a bug bounty platform, reported that the FINTOCH Ponzi scheme contributed a 63% increase in crypto-related losses in the Q2 report of 2023.
“$44,959,390 was lost to fraud across 18 specific incidents. Most of that sum was lost by two specific projects: Atomic Wallet, a non-custodial decentralized wallet, and Fintoch, a defunct blockchain financial platform,” the report said.
ZachXBT’s tweet in 2023 said that Morgan DF Fintoch executed an exit scam, disappearing with 31.6 million USDT, with fund transfers bridging to various addresses via the Tron and Ethereum networks.
The report said that Liang was allegedly charged with illegal possession of a firearm and unlawful entry into Thailand, and authorities are working with the Chinese government to arrange his extradition.
Ponzi schemes are investment frauds promising the investors high returns. However, the fraudsters do not invest the money; they use funds from newer investors to pay earlier ones, creating an illusion of profit.
Fintoch is one among the many cases of rug pull and crypto scams that left their victims devastated. Authorities are working towards further details to uncover the complete extent of its operation and the impacted victims.
