ICO fraud case in Vietnam: 32,000 investors defrauded of $660 million, with an average of 126,000 yuan per person

According to foreign media reports, the Vietnamese cryptocurrency company Modern Tech suddenly disappeared without a trace after launching the initial coin offering (ICO) for its own token Pincoin and raising $660 million from 32,000 investors. Each investor was defrauded of about $20,000 (about RMB 126,000).

When Modern Tech launched Pincoin’s ICO, it promised investors a fixed return. Later, the company launched another token, iFan, a social network token for celebrities. Picoin investors initially received cash returns, and then the team offered iFan tokens to Pincoin investors as a return on investment. In the end, Modern Tech suddenly disappeared collectively.

This is also the largest exit scam in the field of ICOs. Modern Tech was founded by seven Vietnamese people. After defrauding funds from ordinary investors, they seem to have fled Vietnam, and the deceived investors can only gather outside the company’s headquarters to demand an explanation.

According to Vietnamese media reports, the real mastermind behind the project is a team of seven Vietnamese who held meetings in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and even remote areas to encourage investors to participate in the initial coin offering.

During these meetings, investors were told that their initial investment would receive a monthly interest rate of 48%, and that they would get their entire investment back after four months of investing. In addition, they would receive an 8% commission for each new member they introduced to the network.

Pincoin rewards users for referring others to the project, a unique but familiar format. Since January, Modern Tech has stopped offering cash returns to investors and has switched to iFan tokens. Last month, the company was completely deserted, leaving only its website, which is still accessible.

Modern Tech describes its mission in detail on its website: "The PIN project is to build an online collaborative consumption platform for the global community based on the sharing economy, blockchain technology and cryptocurrency." Similar to other scams, Modern Tech does not provide information about its founders, advisors or specific ideas on its website. In short, the company just spent money to create a beautiful website to convince thousands of investors of its legitimacy.

Interestingly, the price and exchange rate of Ethereum-based cryptocurrencies are provided on the iFan page, indicating a direct relationship between Ether and iFan. This also once again shows that the current unregulated initial coin offerings are taking advantage of this most interesting system to make fools lose money.