The Ethlot website has been down for some days, and the company removed all its chat groups. The scam may have amounted to USD 10 million, stolen from around 2,000 investors.
Around a thousand people in South Korea were recently victims of a scam applied to Bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment. A company reportedly stole billions of won (KRW) after deceiving unsuspecting investors to take advantage of them.
The company, Ethlot, raised significant money from investors in the Asian country. The latter paid for alleged Bitcoin mining equipment installed in Kazakhstan and Russia, expecting returns between 0.7% and 3% daily.
Since the advertising and collection campaign began in January, around 2,000 investors have deposited their capital. The company promised them they would make money with the mining equipment.
According to the victims, Ethlot opened an office in Seoul in November to recruit investors through the Ethlot Me website. They also exploited social networks, showing videos of how the farms operated to potential investors.
The Website of Ethlot Is Down
The official page, the blogs, and other related sites of Ethlot Me have been down for some days. The company has not communicated with the investors, probably fleeing with up to USD 10 million. However, the South Korean authorities said that future investigations would reveal further details.
When the investors try to enter the Ethlot website, it does not work, throwing an error. Although the Instagram account is still active, the company has not posted anything since May 24th. The company has received e-mails from its investors but has not given them any response.
At least 20 victims made their first public complaint, reporting the disappearance of the website and their funds. They said Ethlot committed that fraud, which the authorities started investigating a few days ago. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is already in charge of solving the case.
They Used Chat Rooms to Operate Their Business
According to the police, the administrator of Ethlot operated from the chat rooms of an app called Kakao. A post from the company through a general chat room, a VIP room, a VVIP room, and a top-tier SVIP room promised significant earnings. They told their victims they could make up to USD 32 daily or USD 960 monthly, with an average investment of USD 2,300.
Based on the size of their investment, individuals had access to each of those rooms. Ethlot promised that the more they invested, the better mining rigs they could use to make money.
According to Ethlot, the earnings could amount to USD 120 daily or USD 3,600 monthly on an investment of USD 6,300. They said they would make that money available to investors every seven days, but that never happened.
The authorities still have to check whether the complaints are valid and what will happen to the lost funds. Investors should research well before risking their money on new businesses to avoid suffering scams.
By Alexander Salazar
