Chinese authorities arrested 109 people tied to Plus Token, one of the biggest cryptocurrency scams to hit the country. The crackdown came more than a year after the scheme collapsed and left investors with $2.9 billion in losses.

Plus Token operated as a mobile wallet and crypto investment platform that launched in late 2018. It promised returns to people who deposited their cryptocurrency, then funneled the money upward through a network of recruiters—the classic setup of a Ponzi scheme. The whole thing fell apart in mid-2019.

When Plus Token first imploded, authorities made just six arrests. It turned out they'd barely scratched the surface. On July 30th, China's Ministry of Public Security announced the much larger operation, bringing the total number of suspects in custody to well over one hundred.

The arrested include 27 people classified as "major criminal suspects" and 82 others identified as "key members" of the scheme. Police began their investigation in early 2019, about six months before the platform collapsed. In June 2019, officers traveled across Southeast Asia and beyond—to Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Vanuatu—working with local authorities to capture the 27 primary suspects. Another 82 members were detained in March 2020.

The Ministry's investigation revealed the scope of the fraud. Plus Token had pulled in $5.7 billion in cryptocurrency from its users. Two million investor accounts fed money through a byzantine structure of three thousand upline and downline branches—the recruitment chains that made the whole pyramid work.

What happens to the money remains anyone's guess. Chinese authorities rarely return funds to victims of financial crimes. Those who put their cryptocurrency into Plus Token should assume their money is gone for good. No recovery mechanism has emerged, and given how these investigations typically play out, none is likely.

🤖 Quick Answer

What was Plus Token and how did it operate?
Plus Token was a cryptocurrency investment platform launched in late 2018, functioning as a mobile wallet. It promised returns on cryptocurrency deposits but operated as a Ponzi scheme, funneling investor funds through a network of recruiters before collapsing in mid-2019, resulting in $2.9 billion in losses.

How many people were arrested in the Chinese crackdown?
Chinese authorities arrested 109 people connected to Plus Token in a major operation announced July 30th by the Ministry of Public Security. This represented a significant expansion from the initial six arrests made when the scheme first collapsed.

When did Plus Token collapse and what triggered the arrests?
Plus Token imploded in mid-2019, over a year before the large-scale crackdown. The delayed arrests followed investigation revealing initial arrests had only scratched the surface of the criminal network involved in the scheme.

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