Taichung prosecutors yesterday charged a man, his mother and two brothers with fraud for allegedly operating a cryptocurrency-based scam to dupe investors in Taiwan and China and raking in NT$32.68 million (US$1.06 million).
Wen Hsiu-feng (溫修?), 47, claimed to be the founder of a new cryptocurrency called “baote coin” (寶特幣), and the group started enticing people to invest in 2015, with the promise of “getting back your initial capital within one month” and “doubling and redoubling your profits within one year,” the indictment read.
Touting it as having a higher profit potential than bitcoin, Wen deceived people by claiming that baote coin could be bought and sold on cryptocurrency trading platforms around the world, as well as accepted as payment for purchases made at online shopping sites in Taiwan and China, prosecutors said.
Investigators found that Wen in 2015 set up Baote Net Technology Co in China, but registered the company under the names of his mother and two brothers, and used their bank accounts in Taiwan for deposits and money transfers.
Wen recruited a Taiwanese man, Wang Hsing-hung (王興洪), 60, to do promotions for the company in Taiwan, while he and his family stayed in China to promote his business.
Evidence provided by Chinese authorities showed that Wen hired two Chinese men to help with the company’s operation in China, where they organized investment seminars to promote baote coin, claiming that Wen had good political connections in Taiwan and China, prosecutors said.
A Chinese investor who had attended one such seminar said that Wen told people baote coin was approved and supported by the Chinese government, which even granted the company an office in Beijing free of charge as it wanted to develop a “cryptocurrency economy.”
Wen was also described as a multibillionaire and the chairman of two listed companies in China, the investor said.
However, the scam collapsed when investors found that baote coin was a sham — a worthless certificate that could not be traded nor used to make purchases, and was not recognized by any online platform.
After Wen was arrested in China in March, his family fled to Taiwan.
However, they were arrested in August, as Taiwanese investors had filed judicial complaints against them last year.
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