Purportedly Based In Hong Kong And Offering Equity Positions, ‘MyCoin’ Bitcoin Exchange Reportedly Goes Missing; Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars May Be At Stake
“MyCoin’s” bitcoin exchange might have operated as a “pyramid-style Ponzi scheme packaged as bitcoin trading,” potential victims plan to tell Hong Kong authorities Wednesday, the South China Morning Post is reporting.
The news comes as bitcoin-themed schemes or “programs” that claim to accept bitcoin appear on Ponzi boards such as MoneyMakerGroup, raising continuing questions about whether MLM HYIP scammers worldwide will erode marketplace confidence in bitcoin itself.
MyCoin appears to have planted the seed that investors could plow money into the MyCoin venture itself. The PP Blog was able to view the MyCoin website. Purported businesses such as a “Trading Center,” an “Electonic Mall,” a “Cloud Mining Machine,” a “Bitcoin Game Center and “Market Monitoring” are referenced on the still-active site.
Various buzzwords appear on the English version of the site. Examples include “value-added services,” “strategic objective,” “mobile e-commerce” and “integrated multifunctional Bitcoin platform.”
Fraud schemes often mix in well-known words and phrases from the worlds of investing and business to disarm members of the public. Other examples include “algorithm,” “trading floor,” “insured,” “green” (denoting “programs” said to be environmentally friendly”), “approved” and “contract.”
Victims often are hoodwinked and dazzled into believing they’re exercising great personal and public responsibility while helping freedom and free markets expand.
From the South China Morning post (link above/italics added):
An 81-year-old woman surnamed Chan said she recovered only HK$1.2 million on her HK$3 million investment on seven bitcoin contracts. “I shouldn’t have been greedy. I was told by my real estate agent that the profit would be over HK$2 million after one year,” she said. The biggest loss by a single client was said to be HK$50 million, while some mortgaged their properties to invest.
According to reports, Hong Kong exchange MyCoin has closed, taking with it as much as $386.9m in investor funds http://t.co/hsjf4i7lxu
— CoinDesk (@coindesk) February 9, 2015
ValueWalk Bitcoin Pyramid Scheme Robs Investors Of $387 Million http://t.co/gt3P6CsMGo Via @ValueWalk
— Megan P (@meganpaul88) February 9, 2015
Hong Kong bitcoin exchange MyCoin believed to be $386M ponzi scheme http://t.co/RFo2AYBepU
— Pando (@PandoDaily) February 9, 2015
Also see TechInAsia story:
https://www.techinasia.com/bitcoin-pyramid-scheme-hong-kong-387m-investors-money/
Patrick
From the MyCoin website:
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MYCOIN platform is leading global Bitcoin trading platform and application service provider, committed to development and operation of Bitcoin related products. Currently we have advanced bank-level data encryption technology , cold storage, sophisticated algorithms, cloud computing, cloud storage, cloud mining machines and others. MYCOIN platform (www.mycoin.hk) is the world’s first Bitcoin trading, Bitcoin entertainment applications, e-commerce and other services as an integrated platform to provide comprehensive integration services for global Bitcoin users.
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The “cloud computing” angle reminds me of the WCM777 scam. Of course, the current “Achieve Community” scheme has claims of an “algorithm.”
Some of the Achievers have peeled off into schemes that claim to accept bitcoin. One of them is the bizarre “BRING THE BACON HOME” scheme purportedly operated by “Sherilyn” from “Singapore.”
https://patrickpretty.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/baconhomeegopay.jpg
Patrick