A Dubai-based crypto scam that bilked investors out of millions just got a facelift—and the same crooks are running the con all over again.
Pop Max, a fake "staking" scheme that surfaced earlier this year, has collapsed after blocking users from withdrawing their money. But victims aren't getting refunds. They're being herded into a new scam called Luma Protocol, which launched almost immediately after Pop Max locked down its withdrawal system.
Here's how the original scheme worked: Pop Max convinced investors to dump money into tether (USDT). The promised returns came in PUSD tokens, which investors had to convert to Pop Social Token (PPT) just to cash out. A few weeks ago, Pop Max disabled that conversion entirely. Investors woke up to find their money trapped.
That's when Luma Protocol appeared on the scene, hosted on dapp.lumaprotocol.io. The root domain was privately registered on August 29th, 2025—right after Pop Max went dark.
Luma Protocol is run by Nivex, a crypto exchange operating from Dubai run by two serial fraudsters: Simon Hardy (also known as Szymon Pietraszczyk) and Becky Choi (also known as Becky Cai). Both have left a trail of collapsed MLM Ponzi schemes across the crypto space, including DEFI Money Club, Meta Force, GPBots, and SolaRoad.
There's every reason to believe Hardy and Cai orchestrated the entire Pop Max operation from the start. They're not working alone. Other Chinese scammers have been listed as Pop Max co-founders, including Nicholas Wan, also known as Ruicheng Wan (万睿诚). In July 2025, MLM promoter Sal Khan interviewed Wan at Nivex's Dubai offices.
The new Luma Protocol scheme wraps itself in complex language about POP token mining and endless token conversions. That complexity is the point. Each conversion serves as another hurdle that traps money inside the system and makes it harder for investors to get out.
This is textbook collapse-and-rebrand. Pop Max ran out of new victims—the classic death knell for any Ponzi scheme. So Hardy, Cai, and their crew pivoted to phase two: squeeze every last dollar from the people already roped in. New token launches, new platforms, new hoops to jump through. Every conversion is a chance to manipulate the numbers and keep investors believing their money is still in play.
Luma Protocol has since collapsed, as of December 3rd, 2025.
Expect more scams from this crew. If Hardy and Cai have proven anything, it's that they know how to recycle a failed scheme into a new one. There are still victims with money trapped in the system, and these operators will launch additional cons to extract whatever they can before shutting down and disappearing—at least until their next rebrand.
🤖 Quick Answer
What was Pop Max and how did it operate?Pop Max was a Dubai-based cryptocurrency scheme marketed as a staking platform. Investors deposited tether (USDT) and received returns in PUSD tokens, which required conversion to Pop Social Token (PPT) for withdrawal. The platform ultimately disabled conversions, effectively trapping investor funds and exhibiting characteristics consistent with a Ponzi structure.
What happened when Pop Max collapsed?
Pop Max ceased operations by blocking all withdrawal mechanisms and disabling the PUSD-to-PPT token conversion process. Investors discovered their deposited funds were inaccessible, with no refund process offered. The collapse followed a pattern typical of fraudulent crypto schemes, where liquidity dries up once new investor inflows diminish.
What is Luma Protocol and how is it connected to Pop Max?
Luma Protocol is a newly launched cryptocurrency platform that emerged
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Frederick Mann