Taiwanese YouTuber "Bump" (好棒Bump), known for his anti-scam efforts, has garnered a large following for his role in rescuing scam victims in Cambodia and bringing them back to Taiwan.
On 23rd October, the YouTuber uploaded a video on YouTube, exposing a Taiwanese influencer in the cryptocurrency circle who assisted a 17-year-old high school student in dealing with issues relating to a blocked account on a cryptocurrency exchange.
However, the influencer maliciously charged a service fee of up to 5 million NTD, which is approximately $150,000 USD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14BCR2gQDOA&t=1s
In the video, it is mentioned that a 17-year-old Taiwanese high school student named Yuen (預恩) discovered a time gap in the prices displayed by different cryptocurrency exchanges.
When the price on Exchange A rises, the price on Exchange B will correspondingly rise 3 seconds later, meaning that prices are synchronised but with a time delay.
In order to exploit this arbitrage opportunity, Yuen developed their own programme and applied it to execute approximately 60 accounts for automated trading.
However, Yuen's extensive operations drew the attention of the exchange.
These over 60 accounts were identified as having "unusual trading behaviour" and were frozen.
To resolve the issue of their frozen account, Yuen contacted a cryptocurrency influencer known by the alias 'L'.
Subsequently, an intermediary was then engaged to negotiate with high-ranking officials at the exchange, ultimately ensuring the exchange could process the refund.
However, 'L' claimed that someone else was needed to sign on their behalf to handle the matter.
Yuen was unaware regarding what happened behind-the-scenes.
In the end, according to L's account, they were led to believe that after going through the many layers of signing agents, intermediaries, and the exchange's own operations, they could receive only US$8,000 (less than 5%) from their original US$160,000 deposit.
Bump criticised the substantial commission from L, asserting that the cryptocurrency KOL is essentially defrauding high school students.
Bump called 'L' during the video to confront them regarding issue.
'L' assured Bump that they would handle the matter.
However, after two days, there continued to be radio silence from 'L' and they could not be reached.
The other party even closed their Instagram account. Consequently, Bump decided to investigate the so-called intermediary.
The findings revealed discrepancies between the facts and what 'L' had stated.
As it turns out, the supposed intermediary is Jing Yi 景毅-王老先生, who is currently managing a quantitative trading team.
Upon learning of this, he also released a video to clarify the sequence of events.
After conducting a thorough investigation, Bump discovered that all the money had actually been embezzled by 'L'.
Bump sternly warned 'L' to promptly return the entire amount to Yuen or else expose L's true identity and the illicit activities he was involved in.
Soon after, 'L' admitted his wrongdoing and confessed to taking the money for himself.
Not only the funds from Yuen's account, but also over 60 additional locked accounts belonging to other victims were included in the actions of 'L'.
The total amount involved astonishingly exceeded 800,000 US dollars (equivalent to over 25 million New Taiwan dollars).
Bump also accompanied Yuen to the exchange to re-sign the contract in order to process the remaining 20% of the amount.
In fact, there is a valid reason for Yuen's account being locked by the exchange.
Standard exchange terms and conditions allow for the suspension of accounts in cases of suspicious activity.
Therefore, when registering with an exchange, it is important for everyone to pay attention to the terms and also to keep a record of them for their own protection.
Sometimes, it can really come in handy. Furthermore, as investors, you also need to take responsibility for your own actions.
When it comes to operating Yuen's programme, I believe there is no absolute right or wrong.
It is simply a means of capitalising on benefits through this loophole, while exchanges are merely clamping down on suspicious users.
On the other hand, do not delegate anything to others; instead, seek the right way to handle it personally.
For example, in this matter, you can directly approach the exchange for resolution if you believe you have done nothing wrong.
Just like another recent scam incident, JPEX never obtained a licence from start to finish, but many people believed it for a long time.
One reason for this is their extensive use of well-known celebrities and KOLs for promotion, which misled the general public.
Therefore, when investing in crypto, it's advisable to choose exchanges with high financial reporting transparency and a good reputation.
It's also wise to diversify and spread your investments across different exchanges to mitigate risks.
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