AI-QRT, a purported investment platform, registered its domain (ai-qrt.vip) on August 19, 2024, using false information through Alibaba Singapore. Barely a week later, on August 27, the Central Bank of Russia issued a pyramid fraud warning against the entity.
The platform provides no details about its ownership or executive team, a common tactic in fraudulent schemes. The use of a Chinese registrar for a global operation often raises flags for financial investigators tracking such operations.
AI-QRT sells no actual products or services to retail customers. Its entire business model centers on affiliate recruitment, requiring participants to deposit tether (USDT) into various tiers.
These promised returns escalate dramatically with higher investment. An AI-1 account, requiring 10 to 41 USDT, claims 30% daily returns. This rate climbs to 33.33% daily for AI-2 accounts (41 to 121 USDT), reaching 37.04% daily for investments between 30,000 and 100,000 USDT at the AI-10 tier. Such percentages exceed any legitimate market performance and represent mathematically unsustainable growth.
A multi-level referral system also provides compensation. Affiliates earn 10% on direct recruits, 2% on second-level recruits, and 1% on third-level recruits. While basic membership is technically free, a minimum 10 USDT investment is required to participate in the earning structure.
AI-QRT falsely claims legitimacy by stealing the name and branding of Qube Research & Technologies, a genuine UK-based quantitative investment firm. Qube Research & Technologies has no connection to AI-QRT or its operations.
The platform's operational facade involves affiliates logging into an application and clicking a button. The amount invested dictates how many times a user must click. These clicks supposedly trigger quantitative trades that generate revenue, which AI-QRT then shares with its investors.
These button clicks perform no actual trading. The function serves only to create an illusion of activity and participation. AI-QRT operates as a classic Ponzi scheme, using funds from new investors to pay out earlier participants.
This "click a button" app Ponzi structure is not new. Previous iterations, which also used stolen corporate identities, include AKK USDT, Nadec VIP, and Primark Mall. More recent quantitative trading variants have appeared as AI Robot, AI Make USDT, and GQL Quantify. Hundreds of such schemes have emerged since 2021, typically lasting only a few weeks to a couple of months before their websites and applications disappear without warning.
Most investors ultimately lose their initial deposits. A network of Chinese scammers is widely believed to be behind these interconnected fraudulent operations, perpetuating a cycle of short-lived investment scams. Victims can report such schemes to national financial regulators like the SEC or FCA.