Cryptocurrency High-Yield Staking Scam: Promising 10% Monthly Returns, Actually a Pyramid Scheme

Who Gets Targeted

Victims are mostly middle-aged and elderly individuals lacking professional financial knowledge, retirees, and cryptocurrency beginners who generally have an urgent demand for wealth preservation or rapid appreciation. Coupled with a sense of mystery around blockchain technology and blind trust in AI and quantitative models, they are easily lured by gimmicks such as 'AI quantitative trading' and 'stablecoin staking,' generating greed and herd mentality, and ultimately finding themselves unable to withdraw funds after lock-up.

骗局怎么运作

• Step 1: The project promoters place exaggerated advertising copy on social media, short-video platforms, and crypto communities, claiming to achieve monthly returns of 10% or even higher using AI quantitative models. They pair this with forged yield curves and celebrity endorsement images to build credibility and urgency, inducing users into a 'fear of missing out' mindset.
• Step 2: Victims are guided to join WeChat groups or dedicated chatbots, where customer service representatives pose as 'professional consultants.' They are instructed to provide personal wallet addresses and are told that only 'stablecoins' such as USDT and USDC are accepted for transfers, bypassing traditional banking regulation to form an anonymous fund chain.
• Step 3: The platform introduces a 'lock-up plan,' promising to return principal and pay high interest after a lock-up period of 7, 30, or 90 days, while charging high penalty fees for early withdrawals during this period. Under the dual pressure of fear of default and contract penalties, victims often invest hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan at once.
• Step 4: The project adopts a typical pyramid referral mechanism: the principal from new users is used to pay promised interest to older users, and the platform sets up multi-level referral rewards within its system. Older users can earn extra commissions by recruiting newcomers, creating a rapid expansion and fission effect that further conceals cash shortages.
• Step 5: When the growth rate of new users slows down or the platform faces regulatory pressure, promoters suspend withdrawals under excuses such as 'system upgrades' or 'security audits,' and subsequently shut down official channels and delete promotional pages. This leaves invested funds locked and unredeemable during the lock-up period, leaving victims with no choice but to seek recovery through complaints or police reports.

红旗信号（看到这些快跑）

• 🚩 The returns promised in the promotional copy are far higher than similar legitimate financial products, and no audit reports or regulatory filing information are provided.
• 🚩 Mandatory use of cryptocurrency stablecoins for transfers without accepting fiat currency or traditional payment channels, thereby evading financial regulation.
• 🚩 Multi-level referral commissions are established, with income sources relying primarily on the admission of new users—a classic pyramid structure.
• 🚩 Project customer service provides 'one-on-one' service in the identity of 'professional consultants' but switches to automated replies at critical moments, lacking verification from real personnel.
• 🚩 Information on official channels (official website, WeChat official accounts) updates unusually frequently, often featuring copy-pasted old announcements or deleted pages.

真实案例

• In June 2023, a staking platform named 'Aoulink' published promotions in multiple crypto communities boasting an annualized yield of 540%, attracting about 150 investors to invest a cumulative total of approximately 20 million RMB. After 30 days, the platform changed the terms to a 90-day lock-up and claimed that system upgrades prevented withdrawals after the lock-up period expired, failing to return any principal to date. [https://pan.ennet.cc/article/5512.html](https://pan.ennet.cc/article/5512.html)
• In February 2024, Shenzhen police opened an investigation into the 'Zhongchengming Quantitative AI Financial Management Scheme,' which claimed to use AI algorithms to achieve a daily return of 0.3%. In just two months, it absorbed approximately 300 million RMB in funds before all accounts were frozen; the majority of victims were middle-aged and elderly retirees. [https://www.foshang.cc/article/8138.html](https://www.foshang.cc/article/8138.html)
• In December 2022, the U.S. SEC and CFTC jointly sued a crypto Ponzi scheme that claimed to return 10% monthly yields, actually raising about 400 million USD. Its core method involved using new users' principal received later to pay interest to older users, ultimately causing more than 80,000 investors worldwide to lose everything. [https://www.trustformer.info/zh/s-articles/article872](https://www.trustformer.info/zh/s-articles/article872)

Official Stance

• On 2023-12-01, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the 'Warning on Preventing Cryptocurrency High-Yield Financial Scams,' warning investors not to blindly trust platforms claiming high AI quantitative returns.
• On 2024-03-15, the Ministry of Public Security issued the 'Special Action Plan to Combat Illegal Fundraising Activities,' specifically listing emerging scam models such as crypto staking and lock-up plans.
• On 2024-06-20, the Financial Regulatory Administration emphasized in its 'Financial Risk Warning' column that cryptocurrency staking projects lack regulation, and once the involved assets are frozen, they are difficult to recover.

How to Protect Yourself

• ✅ Before deciding to invest, always verify whether the platform is registered with institutions such as the People's Bank of China or the Securities Regulatory Commission; unregistered projects should be regarded as high risk.
• ✅ Do not casually transfer crypto assets to unknown wallets or third-party platforms, especially operations requesting exclusively stablecoins like USDT and USDC.
• ✅ Stay vigilant against any project promising fixed monthly returns and mandatory lock-up periods, and rationally evaluate the gap between its investment returns and market averages.
• ✅ If you have already participated in a suspected staking project, promptly save transaction records, chat screenshots, and other evidence, and report to local public security organs or financial regulatory authorities to prevent further leakage of personal information and assets, while checking the associated entity's shareholders and administrative penalty records.