Revealing the Aptos Private Fund Scam: Building Trust through Welfare Distribution and Ponzi Scheme, Only to Abscond with Funds a Year Later

ICO proxy investment and private placement scams are rampant in the cryptocurrency market, even fooling long-time users who are afraid of missing out (FOMO).

Aptos private placement scam
Lubiyangjia.eth, a KOL with 110,000 Twitter followers who specializes in sharing airdrop information, claimed to have fallen victim to the Aptos private placement scam, losing a total of 6 million RMB (approximately 828,300 USD).

The private placement scam also includes the two major public chains in the MOVE system, Sui and Linera. Lubiyangjia.eth revealed the scam methods:
Establishing a Chinese group, distributing benefits, gaining community trust
Lubiyangjia.eth entered the Aptos technical Chinese community around May last year, where the community initiator is named Assistant.

Assistant continuously distributes benefits to gradually gain the trust of the community.
Accidentally revealing the private placement quota, arousing speculation
Between August and December last year, Assistant started revealing that Aptos had a private placement quota, which came from the institution Alameda that he was in contact with.
Note: Alameda declared bankruptcy only in November last year.

Private placement
Initiated, actively responding to user concerns
As the community gradually transferred funds to participate in the private placement, Assistant actively responded to community questions. By early 2023, most people did not doubt the authenticity of the private placement.

Well-informed, capable of exposing Aptos’ latest developments in advance
During this period, Assistant would disclose that he had entered the Aptos Foundation, had a good relationship with Sui’s senior management, and had access to Linera’s core team, among other news.
He would also reveal the latest news about the aforementioned public chains in advance.
Lubiyangjia.eth emphasized that Assistant would provide screenshots from within the core leadership of the public chains, making them appear very real.

Patiently laying out the scam for a whole year
Aptos went live in October 2022, and the private placement scam led by Assistant claimed that the tokens needed to be locked for a year, with unlocking scheduled for November 12th this year.
Before the 12th, Assistant transferred 0.1 APT to everyone’s receiving addresses to confirm the accuracy of the addresses. On the 12th, he claimed that he needed to wait for the institution to settle on the 16th and would disburse funds to everyone on the 17th.
Assistant emphasized that the institution originally only accepted linear unlocking, and it was only after his strong plea that they agreed to a one-time disbursement.
Prior to the private placement, Assistant used the same rhetoric, claiming that the private placement was a quota he actively sought from the institution.
Lubiyangjia.eth stated:
Assistant’s series of rhetoric and daily behavior are comparable to acting, making everyone believe it.

Assistant specifically verified everyone’s addresses
Officially harvested on November 17th
Only on the 17th did Assistant delete his Telegram and Twitter accounts, and the DC community of thousands of people has also disbanded.
Why didn’t Assistant run away with the community funds as soon as they were collected? Instead, he laid out the scam for a whole year before absconding with the money?
Lubiyangjia.eth believes that Assistant may have indeed negotiated a private placement quota with a certain institution:
On the 17th, everyone learned that he had deceived them for a whole year, with no flaws in his daily communication with everyone. Therefore, he waited until he had the private placement tokens in hand before revealing his true fraudulent nature.
Lubiyangjia.eth’s tweet received a large number of retweets, and he also tagged institutions such as Aptos, Sui, and included relevant addresses of the scammer, requesting assistance from CZ, Justin Sun, and other exchange CEOs. However, there has been no public response yet.
Aptos
Assistant
Linera
Sui
Lubiyangjia.eth
Private placement scam