7,000 BTC Lost in Hangzhou Scam

This article was originally published by 8btc and written by Vincent He.Nearly 100 victims from various parts of China have reported to the Hangzhou police bureau, claiming that they were deceived by two young men, named Zhou Yi and Li Xiang, who allegedly stole nearly 7,000 bitcoin through exchanging or borrowing.According to the victims, Zhou and Xiang had claimed on the internet that they could exchange bitcoin as futures and provide interest. The victims trusted them, as some preliminary orders in small amounts were delivered on time. As the pair could offer bitcoin at prices lower than the market rate and delivery seemed stable, they soon collected several thousand orders.“I began OTC [over-the-counter] Bitcoin trading since 2017, unexpectedly I was cheated by more than 2 million yuan this year,” Mr. Wang, one of the alleged victims, said. “As a senior bitcoin speculator, I always buy low and sell high, I trust my peers.”But Mr. Wang was not alone, as there appear to be more than 100 victims in this case. It has been reported that more than 7,000 BTC, equating 300 million yuan (≅$43.4 million), was involved.This apparent bitcoin trade scam was conducted in two WeChat groups. If someone wanted to buy bitcoin, they could negotiate privately in the groups and transfer the money to a designated bank account after confirmation. One or two days later, Zhou Yi would send bitcoin to the buyer’s designated wallet.”I had been tra...