One of the most prominent scams in the history of the crypto space is the PlusToken scam. However, when it comes to crackdowns, authorities seem to be doing a stellar job, as the latest reports indicate that $4.2 billion was recovered by Chinese authorities in the form of digital assets from the fraudulent scheme. The Black, industry news source, reported that a breakdown of the crypto assets had been provided by the Jiangsu Yancheng Intermediate People’s Court for the crypto assets seized by the police related to the PlusToken scam. It was highlighted by the court that the industry had gotten 1.4 million LTC, 27.6 million EOS, 487 million XRP, 833,083 ETH, and 194,775 BTC, so far.
Apart from these, they have also seized 79,581 BCH, 6 billion DOGE, 74,167 DASH, and 213,724 USDT. It was stated by the court that all cryptocurrencies that were seized would be processed in accordance with Chinese financial laws. As far as gains are concerned, they would be sent to the national treasury. The PlusToken scam is a renowned one in the industry, as it was launched in 2018, when it posed as a wallet service and investment platform. The juicy investment returns of the company attracted investors, who trooped to it in high numbers.
However, it didn’t take long for the scam to unravel. Customers started claiming that they couldn’t get their gains and the company began to default in their payments. Ultimately, when its fraudulent nature was highlighted, the scam went dark and authorities began their search for the firm’s officials. According to local Chinese news sources, investors had been defrauded to a tune of $5.7 billion. Even then, the company continued to operate. While the search for its top officials was ongoing, it was noted by crypto insiders that PlusToken’s wallets were moving money.
Chainalysis reported in the latter part of the year that they had tracked 45,000 BTC, valued at $300 million at the time, and 80,000 ETH, valued at $102 million, which had been sent to individual addresses. In fact, this year also recorded some significant transfers. Whale Alert, the asset tracking platform, noted in June that 26.3 million tokens had been transferred from a PlusToken wallet, which was valued at $67 million back then. Another transfer was spotted by the platform three days later, which was 789,000 ETH, valued at $181.5 million. Even though a number of PlusToken’s top officials are still at large, Chinese authorities have done a number on the company’s affiliates.
ChainNews, an industry news source, reported in July that 27 company operators had been arrested by the state police and taken into custody. Even though most details were not divulged by the news source, it said that 82 core company members were still being investigated by the police. Prosecutors in Xiangshui County and Yancheng City had also charged six people in September for their role in the money-laundering scheme. In May, the accused ringleader for the firm had been arrested, while in 2019, six top-ranking officials had been extradited from Vanuatu to China.
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