500 billion virtual currency scam, fake monk arrested in Thailand and extradited back to China

Author: Yu YeZi

From ancient times to the present, the evil deeds of greed and fraud have always been despised, but the person I want to talk about today is far beyond the ordinary:

Scammed 2 million Chinese people, and the amount of fraud was as high as 500 billion. "Evil" is not enough to describe Zhang Yufa.

Who is Zhang Yufa?

In October 2019, more than 100 Chinese people knelt collectively on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with tears and tears, begging the Malaysian government to "take charge", which set off an Internet sensation.

Why did the Chinese go to the Malaysian government for help?

It turns out that they have a common identity - victims of the virtual currency fund MBI scam.

When this group of people found the MBI headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, it was already empty and there was no way to recover.

With the money evaporated and all hope lost, they later cried and knelt in despair on the streets of Malaysia.

The instigator of all this, the founder of MBI, is Zhang Yufa.

Some people say that he is a natural businessman who has gone astray; others say that he is the "ancestor of pyramid selling" and the biggest liar in Malaysia.

Zhang Yufa, whose ancestral home is in Guangdong, is the third generation of Chinese in Malaysia.

When he first entered society, he did all kinds of small businesses, but none of them made any splashes. In 2008, the financial crisis swept the world, and Malaysia could not escape the bad luck and economic depression.

Just at this time when all industries were in decline, Zhang Yufa took a gamble and opened a coffee shop - Hongdao Coffee Shop.

Do you think he wants to launch boutique coffee and become bigger and stronger? No, he used this to play a "Ponzi scheme":

Friends, you can make money by drinking coffee, how about it?

You only need to invest 6,000 ringgit (less than 10,000 yuan) to buy the original shares of "Hongdao Coffee Shop" and become a shareholder.

At the same time, the company will provide you with 100 ringgit (about 150 yuan) coffee vouchers and 5% rebate every month. After 5 years, the money you get will be three times the original investment!

Who wouldn’t be tempted by such a low-input and high-output opportunity?

● Hongdao Coffee Promotional Poster

Seeing one "Hongdao Coffee House" after another appear on the streets, the number of users who invested in the shares has also doubled.

Within a few months, Zhang Yufa attracted more than 3,000 "shareholders" and earned tens of millions.

But the scam could not cover up the empty shell of the physical store, and the poor service of the cafe was soon squeezed out of the market.

"When the waiter put a menu in front of us, we were shocked. There were 17 kinds of food on the menu, and 10 of them were crossed out and not available." Netizens who have been to the cafe said so.

● Red Island Cafe Menu

At the end of 2008, before the shareholders had survived the economic crisis, they were told that Red Island Cafe had collapsed, and tens of millions of raised funds were gone.

Everyone just woke up from a dream, and hurriedly called the police, complained, and asked for justice.

Later, Zhang Yufa and his partners were sentenced to fraud by the local government of Malaysia.

But the cost of this fraud was very low: Zhang Yufa, who was as slippery as a loach, shifted the main responsibility to his partners, and he only stayed in jail for one day, paid a fine of 160,000 ringgit, and that was it.

The victim lost all his money, while Zhang Yufa, on the other end, made a lot of money and his appetite increased greatly.

After that, the label on him became more and more magical.

In 2015, when Zhang Yufa entered the public eye again, he was already a well-known billionaire - his MBI Group involved more than 40 projects in film, television, real estate, supermarkets, hotels, etc.

Zhang Yufa himself has a strong background and connections - there are rumors that he is the cousin of Malaysia's founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman, and even the Director General of the Malaysian General Administration has supported him.

For a time, Zhang Yufa and his MBI Group were in great glory.

● MBI promotional poster

However, it was the MBI Group, which seemed to have immeasurable resources and prospects, that became the nightmare of countless victims.

How did the MBI Group start?

This has to start with its predecessor, the "Dream Group" and the Hong Kong SMI system.

In 2009, the second year after the Hongdao Coffee House exploded, Zhang Yufa and his partners quickly established the "Dream Group" - claiming a return rate of 70% to 90%, a guaranteed profit.

Such a high rate of return, anyone who is slightly sober knows that it is unrealistic and unscientific.

Helplessly blinded by greed, Zhang Yufa outlined the blueprint and buyers flocked in.

How does "Dream Group" help people realize their dreams?

After purchasing projects under the Dream Group, investors will be divided into five different levels, including gold, silver, and silver, according to the amount of investment. They can receive a corresponding proportion of rebates every month (paid in the form of virtual currency). If they successfully develop downlines, they will also receive generous rewards from the platform.

To put it bluntly, it means paying money to buy virtual products, earning interest, and developing downlines to harvest more leeks.

Isn't this a pyramid scheme? But after Zhang Yufa's packaging, it attracted hundreds of millions of funds in Malaysia and Taiwan.

It was not until 2013 that Zhang Yufa's partner Wang Zihua was arrested by the police, and in 2014 the "Dream Winner" website was completely banned, that buyers saw the true face of the liar.

What is intriguing is that before the incident was exposed, Zhang Yufa happened to "break up" with Wang Zihua and work alone. Not only did he escape legal sanctions, he also came into contact with a "technology company" in Hong Kong that mainly promotes games - SMI.

SMI advocates game financial management on the surface, but actually invests in the token market - it is also a pyramid scheme in essence, but the management is very meticulous, with online virtual currency and offline physical stores, and the fraud system is more rigorous and hidden.

Zhang Yufa, who has a "sharp eye", spied new business opportunities from it, decisively mixed in, and devoted himself to "learning".

Soon after, the Chinese police noticed the anomaly of SMI, quickly defined it as a pyramid scheme, and arrested the SMI leader in 2015.

Zhang Yufa, who "returned from studying" in Hong Kong, not only did not receive sanctions, but also further integrated and optimized the experience accumulated in the two scams of Yuanmeng Group and SMI, and established MBI Group.

In 2015, Bitcoin exploded, and MBI Group took advantage of the popularity of virtual currency to "debut" strongly and gained a large number of followers.

How can MBI defraud the Chinese of 500 billion?

It mainly promotes a virtual currency that "only rises but never falls" - the exchange currency (commonly known as M currency), which can be issued and circulated on the "game management platform" established by Zhang Yufa.

If users want to become members, they have to pay a membership fee of no less than 700 yuan, purchase virtual currency of corresponding value, and obtain membership levels ranging from one star to six stars.

After joining, users can receive an extremely high annual rate of return ranging from 10% to 200%. In other words, the more money you invest, the higher the rate of return you earn. If you can actively develop downlines, you will also receive additional direct referral awards, leadership awards, etc.

The scammer promised: Our M-coin is issued in limited quantities worldwide, and token trading can form an internal virtuous cycle. There is only one stock in the world, and funds are concentrated, so it will only rise and not fall.

But is this really the case? The truth is: Only by constantly developing downlines and eating money from them can you achieve stable profits.

In order to attract more leeks to join, MBI has opened various physical stores, where users can use M coins for shopping, accommodation, massage, manicure and other physical consumption.

Not only that, Zhang Yufa also bribed government officials at all levels to "protect him"; and under the banner of MBI, he widely performed charity and increased his favorability.

● MBI does charity activities

● MBI once sponsored a singer’s concert

However, with the passage of time and the surge in the number of users, doubts have gradually increased:

Although the funds in the account are showing an increase, why is the withdrawal operation becoming more and more complicated?

You buy 1 million, the operation only takes a few seconds; but if you want to withdraw 1 million, sorry, the system will be a bit slow for various reasons, and you can only withdraw 10,000 a day at most.

When someone questioned whether this might be a scam, a strange picture came: the diehard fans were the first to jump out to oppose.

"He taught us how to invest, we believed in him, and even respectfully called him 'Dad Zhang'. In our hearts, he is the head of the family."

But what they didn't expect was that their trusted "Dad Zhang" was like a vampire, frantically collecting 500 billion!

● Family members of the victim sought help online

In 2017, China and Malaysia jointly enforced the law to crack down on MBI pyramid schemes.

In the same year, MBI continued to issue virtual currency WCG (Hua Ke Jin), posing as blockchain to make money crazily.

At the end of June, Zhang Yufa was arrested by the Malaysian police on suspicion of money laundering, and more than 90 accounts under his name, with a total amount of 209 million yuan, were frozen.

But soon, Zhang Yufa, who had great connections, was bailed out from the police station and continued to live freely as if nothing had happened.

After that, there were constant news reports reminding the general public that MBI was a pyramid scheme. The police in Shanghai and other places also successfully eliminated MBI's fraud dens.

However, the authorities are confused. No matter how the outside world warns, there are always people who firmly believe in Zhang Yufa and MBI:

"Zhang Yufa's wisdom is beyond your imagination. Worship him and believe in him."

It was not until 2019, when MBI completely collapsed and the headquarters lost contact, that the diehard fans who were still hoping for luck cried for help from the police: Catch the pyramid scheme thieves and return my hard-earned money.

At that time, the number of people deceived by MBI investment in China had reached 2 million.

After MBI's mask fell off and it was completely over, 500 billion yuan of funds also evaporated. How much the deceived people once admired Zhang Yufa, how much they resent him now.

So the scene at the beginning of the article appeared: hundreds of Chinese went to Malaysia to petition in tears.

What's more, some people tried to sneak into the house of Zhang Yufa's son to kidnap him, and threatened Zhang Yufa to return the money by using his son's life. Although this move is stupid and extreme, the desperation of the deceived people can be seen.

At this time, where is the culprit Zhang Yufa?

He sneaked to Thailand and became a monk in a temple in Songkhla Province!

Can the Buddha's compassion tolerate and wash away sins?

Zhang Yufa's explanation for this is very "pious": he became a monk just to cultivate his character.

Absurd! If this guy had a little reverence and ambition to cultivate himself, why would he cause tens of millions of families to be separated and lose their fortunes!

What is even more absurd is that Zhang Yufa claimed that his conversion to Buddhism was short-term. Is being a monk divided into long-term and short-term?

How short is the short-term? 7 days.

Is he becoming a monk for 7 days in a foreign country for meditation, or to increase the difficulty of arrest by the police and delay time?

The big swindlers in the world are really not ordinary cunning.

I thought Zhang Yufa would hide in Thailand, but who would have thought that he had a smooth life during his escape - he bribed Thai officials, bought land and streets, developed industries, and made money and enjoyed himself.

It was not until July 22, 2022, that the police of China, Malaysia and Thailand worked together, and the Thai police formally arrested Zhang Yufa on suspicion of money laundering.

On July 26, Zhang Yufa was formally transferred to China for trial.

● Zhang Yufa was arrested in Thailand

At this point, the happy life of this swindler finally came to an end.

What awaits him will be severe punishment by law.

Buddhists say: You reap what you sow. Zhang Yufa, the evil man who reaps what he sows, is not worthy of sympathy at all - those who do evil will surely perish.

However, what about those deceived by Zhang Yufa?

Poor people are probably hateful.

Are the pyramid schemes launched by Zhang Yufa really so clever and flawless? Is the liar too smart, or are the deceived too stupid?

Today, Zhang Yufa and his fraudulent scheme (Ponzi scheme) is clear as day:

No actual product, the company itself is not profitable

Return rate much higher than the market average

Need to pay a threshold fee

Need to develop downlines, and rely on the new funds of downlines to drive profits

Who doesn't want to get rich overnight, but you have to take the right path to get it.

There is no free lunch in the world, but there are always people who believe that they are the chosen one and are hit by the pie that suddenly falls.

Unfortunately, what falls from the sky is often not a pie, but a trap.

Now that Zhang Yufa has fallen, who will be the next one?

There is only one MBI, but the Ponzi scheme is difficult to eradicate.

Because the root cause of this scam is human greed.