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Thai Police Arrest Chinese Fugitive Behind Multimillion-Dollar Crypto Ponzi Scheme
- Thai police arrested Chinese national Liang Ai-Bing in Bangkok for his alleged role in the FINTOCH DeFi scheme.
- FINTOCH was a Ponzi that faked ties to Morgan Stanley and used a false CEO, ultimately moving about $31.6 million USDT from user accounts and blocking withdrawals in May 2023.
- Liang faces extradition to China, where he and four others were allegedly involved in the scheme that targeted nearly 100 victims.
Thai police have arrested Liang Ai-Bing, a Chinese national, in Bangkok’s Wang Thonglang district for his alleged role in the “FINTOCH” DeFi scheme that targeted nearly 100 victims in China.
FINTOCH was a DeFi-branded Ponzi that posed as “Morgan DF Fintoch,” falsely implying ties to Morgan Stanley and fronting a fake CEO using an actor’s photo. It drew deposits with “safe” high yields, a slick app, and referral rewards, while keeping centralised control over user funds and offering little transparency into how returns were generated.
Singapore’s MAS placed the project on its investor alert list in early May 2023. That same month, investigators and on-chain analysts reported an exit of roughly 31.6 million USDT that was moved from BSC to multiple addresses on Tron and Ethereum and users were blocked from withdrawing, implying losses near AU$49.0 million.
The scheme’s operators allegedly spanned five people named by Chinese authorities, with arrests and charges following in China and Thailand.
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Liang Arrested In Luxurious Penthouse
According to the report, Liang was detained at an upscale three-story penthouse he had rented since late 2024 for about US$4,645 (AU$7,200) per month.
Chinese authorities previously named four other suspects: Al Qing-Hua, Wu Jiang-Yan, Tang Zhen-Que, and Zuo Lai-Jun. Zuo was arrested in China and later released on bail; the others allegedly fled. FINTOCH also presented a fake CEO, ‘Bob Lambert,’ whose photo actually depicted actor Mike Provenzano.
Despite an early May 2023 warning from Singapore’s MAS, the platform continued to draw deposits before its collapse. Bug-bounty firm Immunefi later listed FINTOCH’s rug-pull among the major incidents that drove a 63% year-over-year jump in crypto losses in Q2 2023.
Thai authorities said Liang also faces charges for illegal firearm possession and unlawful entry. Extradition proceedings to China are underway.
Related: French Far-Right Party Signals Crypto Cred With Bitcoin Reserve Bill
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Author
José Oramas
José is a journalist and translator with a keen interest in blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
