The mastermind of the FINTOCH Ponzi Scheme was arrested in Thailand, and details of the 31.6 million USDT Rug Pull case have been revealed.

Thai police successfully arrested the Chinese suspect Liang Ai-Bing on Wednesday, who is accused of participating in a Ponzi Scheme involving up to 14 million USD in Crypto Assets, related to the defunct DeFi platform FINTOCH. FINTOCH falsely claimed to be backed by Morgan Stanley and utilized actors to portray a fake CEO, executing an Exit Scam in May 2023. On-chain analyst ZachXBT tracked that the scheme siphoned off 31.6 million USD in USDT on Tron and Ethereum, believed to be one of the largest DeFi Rug Pull events of 2023.

Scam Details Exposed: FINTOCH's False Promises and Rug Pull

The FINTOCH platform operated from December 2022 to May 2023, attracting nearly a hundred Chinese investors with promises of high returns.

• False high returns: FINTOCH promises users up to 1% daily return, which is typical of Ponzi Scheme characteristics.
• Identity Fraud: The platform promotes itself under the name “Morgan DF Fintoch”, falsely claiming to have connections with investment banking giant Morgan Stanley, which publicly denied any association in 2023. Furthermore, FINTOCH even hired an actor named Mike Provenzano as the fake CEO “Bob Lambert” to deceive investors.
• Rug Pull: Despite the warning issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in early May 2023, the founder of the platform still absconded with over 31 million USD of user funds before the platform collapsed. On-chain detective ZachXBT traced that this amount was bridged in the form of USDT from the BSC chain to multiple addresses on Tron and Ethereum.

According to a report from the vulnerability bounty platform Immunefi, the Rug Pull incident of FINTOCH is one of the two main events that caused the losses in Crypto Assets in the second quarter of 2023 to increase by 63% compared to the same period in 2022.

Suspect Captured in Bangkok: Results of International Law Enforcement Cooperation

With the intelligence cooperation between the Chinese police and the Thai police, the arrest operation against the FINTOCH Ponzi Scheme gang has made progress.

• Bangkok Mansion Arrest: Thai police raided the upscale three-story residence of suspect Liang Ai-Bing located in the Wang Thonglang area of Bangkok and arrested him. It is reported that he has been renting the property for about $4,645 per month since the end of last year, living alone to evade Chinese law enforcement.
• Accomplice Update: Previously, Chinese authorities identified four other accomplices: Al Qing-Hua, Wu Jiang-Yan, Tang Zhen-Que, and Zuo Lai-Jun. Among them, Zuo Lai-Jun has been arrested and released on bail in China, while the other suspects are reportedly on the run.
• Extradition process: Currently, Liang Ai-Bing is facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and illegal entry into Thailand, and Thai authorities are coordinating his extradition back to China.

Risk Warning: Similarities with “Rug Pull”

The FINTOCH case bears similarities to broader Crypto Assets fraud activities. Earlier this month, the United States announced it was seeking to seize over $14.2 billion worth of 127,271 bitcoins from Chen Zhi, the founder of Cambodia's Prince Holding Group, in a case involving “pig butchering” encryption scams.

Conclusion

The main suspect of the FINTOCH Rug Pull case has been arrested in Thailand, marking another significant victory for international law enforcement agencies in the fight against crypto fraud. This case once again reveals the immense risks hidden behind high-yield crypto investments, especially those involving false endorsements and anonymous operations on DeFi platforms. Investors must be vigilant against the common tricks of Ponzi Schemes, such as excessively high fixed returns and false authoritative endorsements. This arrest operation also sends a clear warning to crypto fraudsters attempting to evade legal sanctions abroad.