The scam, Wotoken, took in roughly $1 billion worth of crypto at current prices from over 715,000 victims.
One of the scam’s core operators is purportedly linked to PlusToken — a multi-billion Ponzi that is believed to have impacted the price trajectory of Bitcoin (BTC) on numerous occasions throughout 2019.
China’s second ten-figure Ponzi busted
Earlier today, Chinese media outlet, Qianba, reported that a case surrounding “super large MLM network” Wotoken had opened for trial on May 14 in Yancheng City.
The scam claimed to generate returns for users through employing algorithmic trading bots, offering referral commissions to affiliates. However, as with most MLM scams, the advertised proprietary trading software did not exist.
In total, 715,249 registered users fell for the scam, resulting in Wotoken accumulating 46,000 BTC, over 2 million Ethereum (ETH), 292,000 Litecoin (LTC), 56,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and 684,00 Eos (EOS) — worth nearly $1 billion at the time of the arrest.
Wotoken was active from July 2018 through October 2019.
Wotoken operator associated with PlusToken
Six defendants faced trial for operating Wotoken, including one individual with ties to the notorious PlusToken Ponzi.
All six defendants pleaded guilty, with the court recommending prison terms of between six months and 11 years.
