There is a new scam in the cryptocurrency circle. Are the scammers too smart or are we too easy to be fooled?

Recently, Fu and Jiang illegally set up a virtual currency trading platform on the Internet, hyped the concept of blockchain, and illegally raised RMB 948,961. They were suspected of fundraising fraud and were prosecuted by the People's Procuratorate of Yandu District, Yancheng City, Jiangsu Province.

Mr. Dong from Changzhou, Jiangsu was pulled into an investment group. Every day, a teacher gave lectures introducing virtual pets "Bit Pig" using "blockchain" technology. It was claimed that the pigs would be acquired by the platform after 15 days of raising, with a 28% return. After making a small profit, Mr. Dong transferred 100,000 yuan to adopt another pet. It was not until the end of July when the platform could no longer be logged in that Mr. Dong realized that he had been cheated.

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There are many such cases, such as "HuaDeng Block Dog" and "Block Cat" before, and "Bit Pig" later. With the emergence of concepts such as blockchain and Bitcoin, related fraud cases have also emerged. Why is it that despite the police's continuous crackdown and countless precedents, blockchain and digital currency-related fraud cases are still reborn?

Interests are always the beginning of deception

No matter in which field, profit is always the "original intention" of being deceived. Low investment, high return, and easy money are always the tried and tested and handy leeks butchering knives of fraudsters. In the cryptocurrency circle, getting rich overnight or in a short period of time is not a fantasy. The speculative nature of cryptocurrency has given the butchering knife a gorgeous coat.

The plustoken wallet absconded some time ago, which attracted widespread attention. The largest fund in the cryptocurrency circle ran away without a warning, and many people lost all their money and even went bankrupt. At the beginning, plustoken, which was popular for a while, attracted countless fans with the pretext of high returns and easy money.

It claims: plustoken is a high-yield wallet with a built-in smart dog that helps you make money 24 hours a day, with a monthly income of 10%-20%. As long as you put the coins in the wallet, you can receive dividends every day. The professional team moves bricks, arbitrages and quantifies, with risk-free arbitrage and guaranteed profits.

However, people who engage in quantitative trading should know that it is impossible to obtain such high returns in this market through arbitrage trading, especially after a large number of quantitative institutions have entered the market. Pure arbitrage cannot even achieve an annualized return of 10%. Even if strategies such as futures-spot, cross-period, and triangular arbitrage are added, the returns advertised by plustoken cannot be achieved.

In fact, most people knew at first glance that plustoken was a Ponzi scheme, but the benefits were too tempting, so they persuaded themselves that someone would definitely take over later, and they would definitely not be the last batch of leeks to be uprooted. But it was also this "smart" mentality that made them collapse completely on the day when plus token collapsed. It was really miserable, but who made them not believe that "there is no free lunch in the world". Although the old saying is old, it is indeed a wise saying.

Seizing the hot spot of central bank digital currency, scams escalate

The central bank's accelerated development of digital currency is a bombshell that has caused a stir. Not only is the discussion in the currency circle in full swing, but the financial circle and ordinary people have also aroused 100% interest. At this time, some "interested people" also began to take action. Such a big hot spot can be said to be the right time, right place and right people. Many people do not believe in blockchain and Bitcoin, but they certainly believe in the central bank. With the central bank's endorsement, what are they afraid of? Criminals took advantage of this mentality to start their illegal fundraising fraud.

On August 9, the Nanchang Branch of the People's Bank of China issued a risk warning about the issuance or promotion of digital currency in the name of the People's Bank of China, stating that some companies have recently used the name of the People's Bank of China to label related digital products as "authorized to be issued by the People's Bank of China" or falsely claimed to be the central bank's digital currency promotion team in an attempt to deceive the public and make huge profits.

The appearance of such news is not surprising, it is even expected. After all, everyone wants to take advantage of the hot spots and make as much money as possible, but it would be bad if it ends up putting oneself in jail.

Strengthen blockchain awareness and stay away from digital currency traps

The public is not very aware of the blockchain industry, and even fewer people are deeply involved in the industry. Ninety percent of people in the cryptocurrency circle may know a third-tier celebrity, but ninety percent of celebrities don’t know about blockchain.

Terms like “peer-to-peer transmission,” “anonymity,” and “decentralization” sound mysterious and, coupled with fancy publicity, may become something more awesome than Alipay and WeChat in the eyes of some people.

"Blockchain + tea" and "kiwifruit on the blockchain" have raised their profile to a higher level. Scammers use blockchain and digital currency to decorate some fake investments and projects, making them look novel and high-end. These scammers seem to be "smart" and "too smart" to be guarded against, but the root cause is that the victims know too little about blockchain and digital currency.

Take "BitPig" for example. How could an ordinary virtual animal adoption game easily make a middle-aged man so addicted? With the name of blockchain and brainwashing, 100,000 yuan was easily defrauded. It is embarrassing but also reminds everyone that it is important to supplement relevant knowledge before getting in touch with a new thing! At present, in order to deal with digital currency-related cases, investigators have begun to carry out blockchain knowledge education.

Blockchain is a beneficial technology for many industries. Many industry professionals and governments are actively promoting its implementation and development in various fields. The country is also actively developing central bank digital currency. But advantages and disadvantages always go hand in hand. As long as blockchain and digital currency are developing, related fraudulent criminal activities may not stop. The most important thing is that some people's mentality of taking shortcuts and getting something for nothing will never disappear. I just hope that every investor understands that investment is risky, and they should keep their eyes open to see through scams and not let their hard-earned money go to waste.