The gang was prosecuted for pyramid schemes under the guise of "Metaverse Think Tank Recruiting Investors"

Source: The Paper

Reporter Li Jing Correspondent Wang Shanwen

Under the banner of the "Metaverse Global Think Tank Center Project", Liang Zhizhong, together with Jin An, Zhang Yong (both sued) and others, organized online advertisements, offline meetings, concentrated visits, and lecture activities in Shanghai Set up an office in Qingpu District, fabricate and exaggerate the project prospects, lure the public to invest funds, and develop others to be offline. As of the incident, the total amount involved has reached more than 11.6 million yuan, the number of victims involved has reached more than 14,000, and the highest level of the platform is 42.

On May 16, The Paper (the reporter learned from the Shanghai Qingpu District People's Procuratorate that on March 20, the court filed a public prosecution against Liang Zhizhong for allegedly organizing and leading pyramid schemes.

Seize the "outlet", but actually commit a crime

Qingpu District Procuratorate introduced that in 2015, Liang Zhizhong got acquainted with Jin An, who started a business in Shanghai. In March 2021, Jin An told him: "Do you know the Yuan Universe?" Jin An then told him: "This trend is in its infancy, and if we can 'catch' it, we can make a lot of money." The two planned in private and planned to commit a crime.

Platform advertising. The pictures in this article are all provided by the Qingpu District Procuratorate

The two took the lead in attracting professional technician Zhang Yong. Zhang Yong immediately started to develop the "SpayX Metaverse National Recruitment System" and advertised on the Internet, and then organized the first batch of people attracted by the advertisement to give offline lectures and visits.

Liang Zhizhong and others falsely claimed that the system is "a national research think tank required by the state" and "the Shenzhen and Beijing systems have been completed, and the next step will be to focus on building the Shanghai Metaverse Ecological Consensus", and the public is welcome to invest.

At the same time, they launched a form of currency dedicated to the system: SpayX coins. They stipulated that both funding and investment need to be carried out in the form of the international virtual currency TEDA. TEDA can bet on the company’s internal SpayX currency. Successful betting for 4 consecutive rounds means that this round is successful and will get a lot of money. Any one of them If the period fails, only 75% of the Tether bet will be returned. This profit model is called "static profit" by Liang Zhizhong and others.

In addition, they manage "investors" by region and by level, set up "managers" in each province and city, that is, the highest level of management in the region, and inform them that if they continue to develop their next home, their level will continue to rise. When the next home invests, they will also get 1% of the profit as the introducer, which is "dynamic income".

A group of fanatical investors took the lead in entering the platform and spent huge sums of money in exchange for TEDA. The gambling-like betting concept, the bright future depicted by the company, and the word-of-mouth membership model all made many investors lose their minds and empty their wallets. Even mobilize your relatives and friends to invest together, and at the same time increase your membership level.

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Screenshot of transfer

Create the illusion of "reward" RV, and deceive members to continue investing

In June 2022, Liang Zhizhong and others organized the "SpayX Metaverse Elite Meeting", blasphemy on the stage, claiming that everyone's funds will be safe, and also issued certificates and awards to some of the members, and signed the payment of five insurances and one insurance in public. Gold written materials, and a lottery was held at the scene, with the highest prizes being cars and houses. When the atmosphere of the event was stimulated to the highest point, Liang Zhizhong and others also promised everyone: "We will deliver cars today, and we will deliver airplanes to everyone in the future."

In fact, including the winners, the members on the stage are selected in advance, and at the same time, Liang Zhizhong and others will ask these people to publicize the benefits they have gained, creating an image of "the company has guaranteed funds and benefits" for the unreasonable crowd. It is rich, and the investment does not suffer.” The illusion.

Since then, Zhang Yong has successively developed a variety of online projects such as "SpayX Metaverse Mall", "SpayX Metaverse Business School", "Metaverse Air Classroom", etc., all in order to allow members to continue to invest and spend money.

Less than a month after the offline "Elite Meeting" was held, the "SpayX Metaverse System" gradually encountered many problems such as a cliff-like decline in revenue, inability to withdraw cash, and no response from the backstage. Investors all over the country found themselves cheated and wanted to get back their betting funds, but Liang Zhizhong and others were already planning to flee.

On the evening of July 20, 2022, the public security organs arrested Jin An and Zhang Yong in the company building. On July 21, Liang Zhizhong, who had fled, was chased online. On August 18, Liang Zhizhong, who had fled for nearly a month, finally chose to surrender to the police station.

After review, Liang Zhizhong and others, in the name of obtaining high returns on the investment platform, required participants to invest in corresponding funds to obtain membership qualifications, and to form a hierarchy in a certain order, directly or indirectly based on the number of development personnel and the amount of investment as the basis for rebates , luring participants to continue to develop others to participate in defrauding money, seriously disrupting the economic and social order, the procuratorial organ prosecuted him for the crime of organizing and leading pyramid selling activities in accordance with the law.