Quebec's Autorite des Marches Financiers issued a pyramid fraud warning against AI Quant on April 4, 2025, barely two months after the scheme's domains, aitrx.net and aitrx.cc, were privately registered on January 20, 2025. The platform offers no ownership or executive details on its website, a common characteristic of such operations.
AI Quant provides no tangible products or services for retail customers. Instead, the entire model centers on selling affiliate memberships. Affiliates then recruit new members, effectively marketing the scheme itself.
Participants invest Tether (USDT) into various tiers, each promising high daily returns. For instance, VIP1 members deposit 18 to 149 USDT for a 15% daily return. Higher tiers, like VIP9, require investments from 100,000 to 299,999 USDT, offering a 35% daily payout. Referral commissions are structured across three levels: 10% for direct recruits, 3% for second-level, and 1% for third-level investors. While membership is free, full participation demands a minimum 18 USDT investment.
The core of the AI Quant operation involves a "click a button" charade, masquerading as quantitative trading. Affiliates log into an app and click a button; the more they invest, the more clicks they perform. This action supposedly generates revenue through sophisticated trading algorithms, which AI Quant then shares. But the clicks do nothing. This entire setup functions as a classic Ponzi scheme, where funds from new investors pay off earlier ones. Similar "click a button" app Ponzis, such as DSOA, AK USD, and AI Cambridge, have already collapsed after using the same quantitative trading ruse. Hundreds of these app-based schemes have been documented since late 2021, typically lasting only a few weeks to a few months before disappearing.
These "click a button" Ponzi schemes often collapse without warning. Operators disable both the websites and apps, leaving most investors with losses. Often, before a full collapse, accounts become locked, particularly after a withdrawal request. Scammers then initiate "recovery scams," demanding fees to "unlock" funds or re-enable withdrawals. Any payments made typically result in continued disabled access or a complete cessation of communication from the scammers.
Organized crime groups, primarily from China, are believed to operate these "click a button" Ponzis from scam factories across Southeast Asian nations. In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury sanctioned Cambodian politician Ly Yong Phat, citing his ties to Chinese human trafficking scam factories. Phat's companies allegedly provide shelter for Chinese scammers operating out of Cambodia. Myanmar has also been a focal point, with claims of deporting over 50,000 Chinese scam factory operators since October 2023.
Despite these efforts, the schemes persist. Chinese ministry representatives visited Thailand in late January 2025 to address organized Chinese crime gangs operating from Myanmar. In early February 2025, Thailand responded by cutting power, internet, and petrol supplies to Chinese scam factories along its border with Myanmar. By February 20, Thai and Chinese authorities reported the rescue of ten thousand trafficked hostages from Myanmar compounds. On the same day, five Chinese crime bosses were arrested in the Philippines as part of a wider raid that led to 450 arrests. However, reports on March 19 indicated that up to 100,000 people are still working in Chinese Myanmar scam factories, suggesting the problem remains widespread.