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Unraveling the Aptos Private Placement Scam: Offering benefits, nurturing pump and dump schemes to build trust, then running off with the funds a year later

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Unraveling the Aptos Private Placement Scam: Offering benefits, nurturing pump and dump schemes to build trust, then running off with the funds a year later

ICO proxy investment and private placement scams are rampant in the cryptocurrency market, even seasoned users are falling victim to scams out of fear of missing out (FOMO).

Aptos Private Placement Scam

With 110,000 Twitter followers, KOL lubiyangjia.eth, known for sharing airdrop information, claimed to have fallen victim to an Aptos private placement scam, losing a total of 6 million RMB, approximately 828,300 USD.

The private placement fraud also involved two major chains in the MOVE system, Sui and Linera. Lubiyangjia.eth outlined the scam:

Establish Chinese groups, offer benefits, gain community trust

Lubiyangjia.eth joined the Aptos technical Chinese community around May last year, with the community founder known as Assistant.

Assistant continuously provided benefits to gradually gain the community's trust.

Accidentally revealing the private placement quota, arousing speculators' interest

Between August and December last year, Assistant began to disclose that Aptos had a private placement quota, which came from the institution he interacted with, Alameda.

Note: Alameda declared bankruptcy only in November last year.

Private placement initiated, actively addressing user doubts

As the community continued to transfer funds to participate in the private placement, Assistant actively addressed community questions. By early 2023, most people had no doubts about the authenticity of the private placement.

Well-informed, capable of exposing Aptos' latest developments in advance

During this period, Assistant revealed that he had entered the Aptos Foundation, had good relations with Sui's top management, and had access to the Linera core team, among other information.

He would also preemptively disclose the latest news about the aforementioned chains.

Lubiyangjia.eth emphasized that Assistant always attached screenshots from deep within the top ranks of the chains, making them appear very authentic.

Patience in setting up, scammed for a full year

Aptos went online in October 2022, and the private placement scam led by Assistant claimed that the tokens needed to be locked for a year, unlocking around November 12 of this year.

Before the 12th, Assistant transferred 0.1 APT to everyone's receiving address to confirm the address was correct. On the 12th, he claimed that they needed to wait for the institution to settle on the 16th before disbursing funds on the 17th.

Assistant emphasized that the institution he was connected to initially only accepted linear unlocking and agreed to a one-time disbursement only after his strong insistence.

Prior to the private placement, Assistant used the same rhetoric, claiming that the private placement was a quota he actively secured from the institution.

Lubiyangjia.eth stated:

Assistant's series of statements and daily actions are comparable to an actor, making everyone believe them.

Assistant specifically verified everyone's addresses

Harvesting on November 17

It wasn't until the 17th that Assistant deleted their Telegram and Twitter accounts, and the community of thousands in DC had disbanded.

Why didn't Assistant run off with the community funds as soon as they were collected? Instead, they set up for a whole year before absconding with the money?

Lubiyangjia.eth believes that Assistant may have truly negotiated a private placement quota with a certain institution:

It wasn't until the 17th that everyone realized he had scammed them for a full year. His daily interactions with everyone were flawless, so perhaps he only revealed his true fraudulent side after receiving the private placement tokens?

Lubiyangjia.eth's tweet received a lot of retweets, tagging institutions like Aptos, Sui, among others, and providing the addresses of the scammers to request assistance from CZ, Justin Sun, and other exchange CEOs, but as of now, there seems to be no public response.