What could well become known as the largest Initial Coin Offering (ICO) scam in history[1] has highlighted the need for the cryptocurrency community to promote financial education.
On Monday, April 9, Vietnamese media reported that nearly $660 mln of investors’ money had been stolen[2] by two separate ICO’s, run by a parent company operating out of Ho Chi Minh city.
iFan [3]and Pincoin[4], the two ICOs in question, are believed to have been setup and operated by Modern Tech according to the initial report from Tuoi Tre News[5], a local news outlet. Around 32,000 investors were reportedly duped[6] by the scams and lobbied outside the offices of Modern Tech in Ho Chi Minh on April 8, although the owners had liquidated the company and evacuated their office space more than a month ago. Both ICOs are being described as multi-level marketing ponzi schemes.
The victims state that the company had conned them out of VND 15 trln ($658 mln). That makes the scam a record in the cryptocurrency industry with an astounding $20,500 per person, but raises some questions in absence of any detailed evidence - in particular, whether victims count the money they invested or the assumed value of tokens.
iFan[7] was touted as a social networking platform for celebrities from all walks of life to promote content to their fan base around the world.
Pincoin[8], an ERC20 token powering the PIN project, promised users up to 40 percent monthly return on investments on the landing page of the website[9]. The project promised to build an online platform powered by cryptocurrency and the Blockchain to provide an ad network, auction and investment portal
