Chinese Man Arrested in Bangkok Over Alleged $14M Crypto Ponzi Scheme

In brief

Thai police have arrested Chinese national Liang Ai-Bing on Wednesday over an alleged $14 million crypto scam tied to defunct platform FINTOCH.
FINTOCH promised 1% daily returns, falsely claimed Morgan Stanley backing, and used an actor as a fake CEO before an exit scam in May 2023.
On-chain analyst ZachXBT traced the rug pull to $31.6 million in USDT across Tron and Ethereum, calling it 2023’s largest DeFi exit scam.

Thai authorities have captured a Chinese national wanted for allegedly running a multimillion-dollar crypto Ponzi scheme that targeted nearly 100 people in China.

Police officers raided an upscale three-story residence in Bangkok’s Wang Thonglang district and arrested the alleged suspect Liang Ai-Bing.

Investigators say Liang was part of an alleged five-person operation that built and promoted a fraudulent DeFi platform called “FINTOCH” between December 2022 and May 2023.

He had been renting the property for roughly $4,645 per month since late last year, living alone while evading Chinese law enforcement, according to a local media report.

The operation followed intelligence cooperation between Thai and Chinese police, leading to a Criminal Court-issued search warrant, as per the report.

“It appears the team behind the ponzi @DFintoch has likely exit scammed with 31.6m USDT on BSC after the funds were bridged to multiple addresses on Tron/Ethereum and people reported being unable to withdraw,” onchain sleuth ZachXBT tweeted in May 2023, revealing the scam.

Chinese authorities previously identified the other alleged members as Al Qing-Hua, Wu Jiang-Yan, Tang Zhen-Que, and Zuo Lai-Jun. Zuo was arrested in China and released on bail; the others allegedly fled.

The platform, branded as “Morgan DF Fintoch,” falsely claimed ties to Morgan Stanley, a claim the investment bank publicly refuted in 2023, denying any association with the project.

FINTOCH even featured a fake CEO named “Bob Lambert,” whose profile picture was actually that of actor Mike Provenzano, who had appeared in several short films and series.

Despite a warning from the Monetary Authority of Singapore in early May 2023, the founders netted over $31 million in user funds before the platform collapsed.

Bug bounty platform Immunefi reported that the FINTOCH rug pull was one of two major incidents contributing to a 63% increase in crypto losses in Q2 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

Liang faces charges for illegal firearm possession and unlawful entry into Thailand, with authorities coordinating his extradition to China, as per the report.

The FINTOCH case bears similarities to broader crypto fraud operations that have devastated victims worldwide.

Earlier this month, the U.S. announced it was seeking the forfeiture of 127,271 BTC, worth over $14.2 billion, from Chen Zhi, founder of Cambodia-based Prince Holding Group, in a case that involved “pig butchering” crypto scams where trafficked individuals were forced to operate under threat of violence.