The crypto investment scheme Fintoch claimed to be owned by Morgan Stanley has reportedly exit-scammed with $31.6 million in customer funds, adding more count to money lost in DeFi crimes.
On Tuesday, May 23rd, the official Twitter account of Fintoch tweeted about its FTC public chain launch in Dubai. In the comment section, many users complained that they were unable to withdraw funds from the platform. No one from the platform responded with any clarification, making many believe that the people behind the Fintoch had run away with customer’s funds.
On Wednesday, May 24th, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT came up with an explanation saying that Fintoch had likely exit-scammed with 31.6 million USDT. He said:
“It appears the team behind the Ponzi @DFintoch has likely exit scammed with 31.6m USDT on BSC after the funds were bridged to multiple addresses on Tron/Ethereum, and people reported being unable to withdraw.”
A Paid Actor as CEO with a False Name
According to ZachXBT, Fintoch was a cryptocurrency investment scheme claimed to be owned by Morgan Stanely, an American multinational investment bank. The platform offered a lucrative return of 1% daily ROI. But the company never revealed the base location of its operations.
The platform was widely reviewed on social media and held many public events in Asia and the Middle East to promote the scheme. Fintoch attracted much media attention and even won the world’s top ten Web3 technology innovators at the recent World WEB3 Summit in Hong Kong.
The platform claimed to be developing its own FTC public chain. In its last tweet, the company shared a Fintoch FTC public launch promo in Dubai.
However, despite its popularity, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Morgan Stanley issued warnings about the platform. Morgan Stanley’s statement reads:
“It has come to our attention that there are digital platforms impersonating Morgan Stanley, including Fintoch 分投趣 (“Fintoch”). […] Morgan Stanley does not have any affiliation or relationship with these platforms.”
Fintoch’s website lists Bob Lambert as its CEO. However, according to ZachXBT, no Bob Lambert exists; the actual person is only a paid actor. A YouTube podcast shared by a user reveals that the person named Bob Lambert is actually Mike Provenzano, an actor, and author whose provided social media accounts do not exist now.
According to the blockchain sleuth, they bridged 31.6 million USDT on BSC to multiple addresses on Ethereum and Tron. ZachXBT seems right in its exit-scam claim as there is no response from the Fintoch as of writing.
