A Taiwanese couple in Taiwan has allegedly defrauded more than 1,000 people in a Bitcoin investment scam that was promising large returns.
Silicon Angle reported that the classic Ponzi scheme was marketed as a high-yield investment program and promoted through messaging app LINE. It promised a 250% return on Bitcoin invested within a month, and higher returns over a longer period.
Local media reported that the investors didn’t receive a single cent in return and the couple, with a surname of Shi, refused to reply to investors who were looking for their money. These victims started a public group demanding their funds to be returned and that police should investigate the scam. It was only then that the fraud became public.
“This matter should be made public…we were mislead, we were cheated,” Silicon angle quoted Vivan, a victim in the case. Vivan noted that it seemed to be a legitimate offer and that investors simply never suspected it was scam.
Vivan claimed to have invested 16 Bitcoin ($6680) and was expecting approximately 10004 Bitcoin in return.
Following the news, one of the scammers took to Facebook to apologize and also promised to return 16% of the invested funds. Victims, however, are not satisfied with this announcement and want to get back their hard-earned money.
Police in Taipei are said to be investigating the scam, and the amount been stolen is believed to be around NT$50 million, around $1.6 million on the current exchange rate.
