Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain recently brought to light that “hundreds” of wallets associated with the PlusToken scam have started moving “large amounts” of Ether tokens.
Notably, the wallets had been dormant for around 3.3 years before the initiation of today’s transactions.
The platform highlighted that the funds moving were seized from the PlusToken Ponzi Scam. Lookonchain underlined,
“PlusToken Ponzi 2 dispersed 789,533 ETH [$1.94 billion] to thousands of wallets in 2020 and has not moved since April 2021.”
The Chinese police took possession of the funds from the convicts when the fraudulent scheme was busted.
At that time, the court had ruled that the seized assets would be lawfully processed and forfeited to the national treasury.
A total of 194,775 BTC, 833,083 ETH, 487 million XRP, 79,581 BCH, 1.4 million LTC, 27.6 million EOS, 74,167 DASH, 6 billion DOGE and 213,724 USDT were seized.
The assets were cumulatively valued at $4.2 billion at the time. However, per current market prices, they are worth more than $14 billion.
The reason behind the fund transfers remains unclear. Alongside, it is not clear whether the wallets are still controlled by Chinese authorities.
Founded in 2018, PlusToken manipulated investors by proposing high and risk-free monthly returns to its wallet users.
From South Korea, the scheme expanded its reach to other Southeast Asian nations, targeting China, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Cambodia, and Malaysia. In total, they enticed more than two-and-a-half million investors into their scheme.
The scam was systematically cataloged into at least 3,200 levels. According to the court, the perpetrators typically used fresh investments to pay back to initial investors, maintaining the essence of the ponzi scheme.
Bumps on the road started becoming visible by June 2019 when delays in fund withdrawals were recorded. PlusToken blamed the surge in miner fees as the reason for delays.
Team members kept shuffling and sending investors’ funds to various crypto exchanges and OTC brokers for sale in the market before being taken down.
