South Korean Crypto Exchange Pure Bit Exit Scams with 13,000 Ether: Report
According to Korean blockchain news provider Blockchain ROK, newcomer exchange Pure Bit has effectively exit scammed with at least 13,000 in investor Ethereum in hand.
As evidence of the scam, BROK points to the fact that the exchange’s CEO has changed his name on popular Korean social media network Kakao to “I’m sorry” in the “high formality” fashion of the Korean language.
The Pure Bit Facebook page has disappeared, and most of its other public-facing contact options are also gone.
Pure Bit was apparently raising funds in the same fashion that Binance did to fund its exchange. However, few web results are returned when searching for details of the actual ICO. Luckily, the internet is forever, and Archive.org retains a recent copy of the Pure Bit website.
The Pure Bit ICO was similar to other crypto exchanges that been have funded through the ICO model: token holders would be rewarded with some of the crypto exchange’s profits, and exchange fees paid with the token would be heavily discounted.
The Google Translation of the original page reads [formatting edited]:
“Pure coin (PURE) is PureBit’s own coin on the exchange. You can get a portion of the exchange’s return just by having a PURE COIN. In addition, the transaction fee will be paid back to PURE COIN. If you pay the fee with PURE COIN, 30% commission will be discounted. PURE COIN will be incurred 100% on the same day.
“In other words, PURE COIN is a 3rd generation mining coin that includes dividend + mining + incineration. The PUREBIT exchange pre-sells the PURE coins for smooth initial operation when the exchange opens.”
Blockchain ROK says that over 13,000 ETH (nearly $3 million) was collected in the ICO, which has now disappeared. It appears the funds were not locked in a smart contract, as is the design of several legitimate ICOs.
CCN.com will report more details of this incident if and as they become available.
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